Digimon: The Dark Alliance
by Bruce Banner
Summary: Hah! You think the Dark Masters were the toughest suckers in the Digiworld? Wait till you meet the Dark Alliance!
1. Default Chapter Title

__

Prologue . . . .

A few years after the legendary Digidestined, the eight kids who were chosen to defend the Digiworld from evil, had destroyed what appeared to be the greatest evil, the last Dark Master, things have happened on the Digiworld. Since the fall of the Dark Masters, on the surface, the Digiworld has been calm, like the smoothness of a vast ocean. Then a large boulder the size of Texas landed in the calm waters, and balance was destroyed on the Digiworld. Evil, which was thought to be driven forever from the Digiworld returned, magnified tenfold, as if 'evil' was angry that it had been beaten back so brashly. Five of the most powerful Digimon the world has ever seen appeared on the Digiworld one day, almost as if brought out of nothing by some foul wind. Now the Digidestined must decide if they want to embark on a whole new adventure . . . . or even if it is worth it to them.

__

Several days before . . . 

Everything was calm and collected on the Digital World: Elecmon was raising Baby Digimon in the Primary Village, Veggimon was still at his diner, Ogremon was still pretending that he and Leomon were rivals, Piximon was training Digimon in battle, and the Gekomon were still waiting for their glorious leader, Shogekomon, to awaken from his deep sleep. However, in deep places unbeknownst to all except an unlucky few who chose to remain silent about their knowledge, the defeated Virus Type Digimon, that is, the evil Digimon, were in hiding. The Gazimon and Datamon were still in the Pyramid, forced to listen to Etemon's horrible music as he plotted his next evil deed, Demidevimon was being used as a chew toy by Myotismon's bats, and Devimon was brooding over his easy defeat by none other than Angemon. 

As it so happened, the main Virus type Digimon happened to be in the same vicinity when it happened. They were grumbling to one another, mostly of how the Digidestined took away their chance to rule the Digiworld. Suddenly a darkness appeared to converge and then gather around them, as if they were standing in a dark cloud of the thickest Smog. The darkness hardened, as if the air around them was made out of anthracite, and then grew even blacker, if possible. Evil radiated from the air around them, like radiation from a nuclear power plant. Each one of the three evil Digimon raised their heads and took notice. The evil in the air was like a glorious ray of sunshine on a bright summer day to them, and it made them feel more evil and powerful than ever, but such feelings were short lived, especially when they discovered what the evilness harbored. 

The blackness in the air around them shifted and appeared to solidify, as water does when exposed to extreme cold. The darkness grew and changed, and in an eerie flash of light, which was dark in contrast, five forms appeared. As they slowly and with a hypnotical movement moved into the light, the three Digimon drew in a sharp breath. The evilness of the five shapes were so powerful they made even the three Digimon cringe in a response not too different than pain. 

"What is—" Myostismon said, as he shielded himself with his swirling black capes.

"I don't know baby, but it's some bad stuff, uh-huh." Etemon said. He drew his microphone out of the thin air, perhaps these mysterious evil beings wanted music. If so, Etemon would be happy to oblige.

Devimon said nothing, but instead stared at the shapes with his eerie red eyes.

When the shapes came into the light, they could see what they were. Digimon, of various shapes and sizes and colors, but they all had one very noticeable thing in common: Evil with a capital 'E'.

The one in the middle, who appeared to be the leader stepped out in front of the others, who remained mostly in shadow. He wore dark blue and black robes with mysterious symbols which appeared to be carven into the cloth in silver and gold. His black eyes were slanted hard upon the three Digimon before him, and he held a small wooden staff in his right hand, his small but noticeable claws digging into the wood. 

"Who are you? What do you want here?" Devimon said, speaking for the first time.

"I am Eldritchmon, if that means anything to you." Said the stranger. His voice was deep and unnerving to listen to. "I and my colleagues form the Dark Alliance, comprised of the five most powerful Digimon in the universe, and we are now going to take over this planet. Who are you?"

Devimon, ignoring the formalities, probably because his manners were so horrific that he could not respond in kind, flashed his eyes crimson. He appeared to grow in size before them, until he towered twenty feet over their heads. Eldritchmon looked on without a shred of caring. "This world is ours, fools. Depart, or not one of you will be spared!"

Eldritchmon still said nothing, and then, suddenly, laughter flowed from him like music from a harp. It was deep and rusty sounding, and it made the other Digimon, including Devimon, even more nervous than before.

"Touch of evil!" Devimon's right hand became transparent, glowing with an evil light, as it passed straight through Eldritchmon.

Eldritchmon appeared not to even feel the blow, and he raised his right hand into the air at Devimon, almost as if he was bored. "Magical Force!" A bright beam of darkness lanced from his outstretched hand and engulfed Devimon, who cringed under the force of the attack and reverted to his original form, before falling to his knees.

Eldritchmon stared at Etemon and Myotismon, daring them to attack. Etemon stepped up to the challenge, wielding his microphone. "My little darling . . ." he sang out one of his songs. The effect of the song was supposed to make those on the listening end cringe and devolve, but Eldritchmon stood through the enitre song unmoved. Etemon backed up, knowing that for the moment, his powers could do nothing to stop this evil Digimon.

Myotismon stepped up, a smirk on his chalk white face. Gathering his capes around him with a mental hand, he suddenly threw his hands forward, straight at Eldritchmon. 

"Grisly Wing!"

A large swarm of bats appeared and flew straight for Eldritchmon. The swarm engulfed him, and he stood motionless in the middle of the swarm. He then simply spread out his arms, and the swarm vanished into thin air. Before he could counter-attack, Myotismon brought his black capes around himself again, and then let them fall back. Both of his clenched fists glowed with a powerful red light.

"Crimson Lighting!" 

A thin yet brightly glowing red whip of energy appeared in his hand, and he swung it like an expert at the bullwhip. The blow, which could topple and devastate Ultimates, did not even register as a hit to Eldritchmon. He gave an unseen signal, and the figure on his right, shrouded by the dark fog, appeared to draw a sword. It flashed with a dark light as it withdrew from the sheath, throwing the dark fog around them into contrast, if possible.

"Mega blade!"

A dark blade of cold metal blazed an arc through the air, it's blade reinforced with a mighty surge of energy. The energy was sent out into an arc, and slammed into Etemon and Myotismon with the force of a runaway freight train. Etemon was sent flying head over heels, but Myotismon stood his ground, holding the excruiciating pain of the blow inside and not letting his enemies see that he was hurt.

"OK baby, you're gonna get it now!" Etemon said, as he climbed to his feet. A surge of energy surrounded Etemon and Myotismon, forcing even Eldritchmon to take a step back. Inside the aura of energy, both Etemon's and Myotismon's energy spiked to even more powerful levels. A monochromatic, disembodied voice informed them, "Myotismon digivolved to . . . . VenomMyotismon!"

"Etemon digivolved to . . . . MetalEtemon!"

Etemon stood, larger and taller than before, clad from head to for in a silvery metallic substance, his glasses still masked his eyes and he still had a small Mozaemon, or Teddymon tucked in his belt for good luck. 

Myotismon evolved into his Mega form, VenomMyotismon, stood towering over them all, perhaps ten storied tall. His eyes blazed with a rainbow of colors, and power surged in the air around him. "Fools!! To challenge us!!"

"You got that right, baby!" MetalEtemon said, as he cracked his knuckles. "Metal Punch!"

He ran straight for Eldritchmon, with his right fist drawn back. His fist flew with enough force to punch through a foot of solid steel, but Eldritchmon took the hit without any discernible interest. 

"Gigashocker!" 

A brilliant explosion of electrical energy flashed, and it appeared that MetalEtemon was struck by several lightning bolts. MetalEtemon stood through the attack, unfazed, however. "Ha! You're gonna have to do better than that!" he knocked his fist against his chest, producing a hollow metallic sound. "Chrome Digizoid, baby! Hardest known metal around! That's why I'm MetalEtemon!!" he struck a classic rock star pose.

"Chrome Digizoid?" Eldritchmon smirked, and a sudden terror ran through MetalEtemon, despite his outward bravado. Eldritchmon snapped his gloved fingers, and the strange sword blazed again from it's sheath, glowing with the same evil glint.

"Mega Blade!" The sword appeared to circle around in a wide arc, and then was thrown, spinning like a discus. It struck MetalEtemon in the chest, and then circled around and came back to the mysterious Digimon that threw it. The sword blazed once more, before it was sheathed. 

A hole appeared in MetalEtemon's chest where the sword has struck him, and his metallic covering fell away in tiny flakes like chips of paint. "Hey no fair! I'm the only one who can have Chrome Digizoid! I'm the only one who has my kind of talent!" 

Eldritchmon smirked again, and gestured back towards the shadows with his gloved fingers. MetalEtemon started to back away, but it was too late. 

"Gigashocker!"

The same electrical attack blazed forth again, and struck MetalEtemon in the chest with the force of a dozen lightning bolts. MetalEtemon crumpled to the ground and devolved to Etemon.

VenomMyotismon's eyes blazed, and he moved to strike out with a powerful attack, but Eldritchmon raised an outstretched hand. "Magical Force!" Incredible magical energies slammed into VenomMyotismon, and he toppled forward like a felled Redwood tree, devolving to Myotismon as he fell.

"Kronosmon, send them back to the Primary Village." Eldritchmon commanded, without feeling. It was just a formality so that he could take total control of the Digiworld. He withdrew back into the black shadows of the fog, still smirking.

"Time Warp!"

An incredibly bright flash of power erupted like an Atom bomb, but the darkness was not broken. The space-time continuum was momentarily broken into, and Time stopped and reversed, as if some large machine stopped time itself and rewound a connotation time line as if it was an infinitely large and long video tape. The lifeless forms of Devimon, Etemon, and Myotismon devolved back into Digi-Eggs, and in a minute flash of light, were gone. Totally surrounded by the evil fog barrier, Eldritchmon's eyes gleamed and the fog disappeared, like a candle being put out.

Everything in the immediate area was still and quiet for several minutes, until a blazingly bright and round beam of light appeared on the spot where Eldritchmon had stood. An old man who looked to be as old or older than time, with snow white hair and a long dropping mustache suddenly appeared in the middle of the beam of light. His old but still bright and intelligent eyes surveyed the area where the Dark Alliance had prevailed and the evil Digimon of the past met their defeat. He noticed the fading presence of an evil so intense it made him cringe, as well as a considerable amount of power left hanging in the air from super-powerful attacks. He stood motionless for a few minutes, considering, and then swiftly appeared to make up his mind. A second later the beam of light, with the strange little old man with the long white mustache, was gone.

He reappeared several miles away, almost in the same instant, in a modest little house under a large lake. He felt that it was a nice little place for peace and quiet for thinking, and in an far enough off the beaten path so that he didn't get many unwanted visitors. He hardly had any visitors, but that did not bother him. He enjoyed watching Soap Operas all the same, and watching the beautiful fish swim outside of his underwater house. That was why he had the screensaver of the fish swimming across his computer screen. He stepped out of the beam of light, and once he did so, it appeared to lose power and die down, like someone flipped the power switch on it. It became a light gray color, shifting from transparent to translucent. 

"I must find some way to travel faster." The old man muttered to himself, as he moved his house. "That Trans-Tube is fine, but it is growing too outdated. Maybe I can get one of those newer ones with the holographic fish swimming around it."

He shook his head, and promptly forgot about the matter. He blamed such forgetfulness on old age, but someone as omnipotent as he did not need to worry about old age. He was a Digimon, after all, even though his outward appearance did not suggest this. He was created out of bits of data, just like all the others, but he had a good deal of more powerful attributes, or attacks, than all Digimon except for Megas. Those he would be most evenly matched against, but even then in most circumstances, he would be the victor in such a battle. 

He headed into his sleeping room, and plugged in his portable iMac computer. His old but agile fingers flashed over the keyboard, and in a minute, had comprised a proper message and sent it on its way, the only thing he could do was wait for a response.

__

Through a undetermined distance, to the planet called Earth . . .

Izumi Koushirou, or Izzy, as his friends called him, was online with his iMac computer, in the process of downloading a game from a disk that one of his computer friends had given him. As the download process went on, his screensaver came on, filled with fish swimming underwater. An old man with a drooping mustache named Gennai had given it to him when he modified Izzy's computer last, and Izzy had not changed the screensaver since, in remembrance of his old friend, not to mention the incredible adventures he had taken part in.

As Izzy watched the fish swimming slowly with almost a hypnotical effect across the screen, his usually busy mind drifted back to one of the many adventures that he had had on the digital world. One in particular was when he and Mimi were trapped in these old ruins, and Mimi had gone off into a vast labyrithn, crying, and so Izzy used his computer to get her out. Another memorable moment was when he used his computer to help Tentomon, his Rookie Digimon Digivolve.

Suddenly he noticed that his screen saver had turned off and he was looking at his desktop. The icon for the downloading game was gone. Izzy frowned, and moved to restart downloading, when he noticed a small icon in the lower right hand side of his computer screen. It showed a mini Gennai, complete with the drooping mustache, doing jumping jacks. Izzy's eyebrows shot up, and he moved his mouse and clicked twice on the icon that looked like Gennai. A window opened, filling the screen. His screen went black, for a moment, and then was filled with a live video-feed of the inside of Gennai's house. Gennai was off to one side, adjusting the digital camera.

"Is this thing on?" he looked down into his computer screen and saw Izzy's amazed and surprised face staring back. "Ah! Good. Hello Izzy." Gennai sat back in his chair so that his image filled all of Izzy's screen. 

"Gennai?" Izzy barely breathed.

"Good you do remember! How are things on the real world?"

"Um . . .fine! What's the matter?" Izzy said, his voice rising.

"I thought you'd be glad to see me, but such formalities can wait. You and the other Digidestined are needed on the Digital World as soon as possible."

This time, Izzy's eyebrows almost jumped off of his head. "What?" he asked. "but you said that once the Digiworld had re-configured itself, after the cataclysmic event when we destroyed the last evil Digimon, that all evil would be wiped out like a virus from a computer."

"An excellent metaphor, I must remember it." Gennai swiftly wrote something down on a pad of paper before he continued. "I'm afraid I was wrong when I told you that. As long as there is data—any data—even Virus type, there will be Digimon, good and bad."

Izzy sat back in his chair, overwhelmed from the last few moments of information. Usually Izzy, having a scientific min, had no trouble absorbing and sorting information, but with this information, he was quite taken aback. 

"What's the matter? Gatomon got your tongue?" Gennai's image laughed at his own joke. "All joking aside, Izzy, the Digiworld needs the Digidestined once more. Will you help us?"

Izzy was silent for almost a minute, until he had made up his mind. "We'll do it Gennai. I'll alert the others and we'll be there as soon as possible."

"Good! I knew I could count on you. Great minds do think alike." He said, repeating what Izzy had said long ago. "I'll be waiting for you here. Come as soon as you can, joining all eight Digivices together to transport back into the Digital World. Good-bye for now." Gennai reached out a pressed one key on his keyboard, and his image disappeared, reverting Izzy's screen back to his desktop. Izzy looked at his screen for a minute, and then reached for his portable phone, a determined look in his eyes.


	2. Default Chapter Title

__

Almost at the same instant, a few miles away . . . 

Takaisha Takeru, or T.K., was just taking a rare afternoon nap. Just after Myotismon was defeated for the last time, T.K.'s parents who had been divorced got back together again, and now his whole family lived in a large, high-rise condominium. T.K., his face contorted in an mixed expression of sorrow, anger, and fright, was watching in his unconscious mind a nightmare that he had had before. 

In this particular nightmare, Peidmon, the last of the Dark Masters, was battling with Angemon, the evolved form of Patamon, who was T.K.'s Digimon. Angemon digivolved into his ultimate form, MagnaAngemon, and quickly defeated Piedmon, but then a kind of chilling, dry laugh echoed as a black fog gathered around MagnaAngemon, and then T.K. always woke up before he could find out what happened. His eyes flew open, and he felt his heart almost thudding out of his chest. He lay quietly in the cool darkness of his room, running through the scary nightmare again. 

Suddenly, the telephone in the living room rang, piercing the silence. He heard his brother, Yumato Ishida, or Matt come out of his bedroom and answer the phone. His voice could barely be heard, until it jumped up a few decibels. 

"What?" Matt practically yelled. "The Digiworld . . . who cares what Gennai said . . . . fine, we'll see what the others say . . . . yeah . . . in five minutes at your house." Matt slammed the phone down and slowly came into T.K.'s room and flipped on the lights. He sat down on the bed next to T.K., but didn't say anything for a few minutes. Finally he said, "That was Tai. He said that Izzy said that Gennai said that there's a lot of trouble of the Digiworld, and we're needed there again." 

T.K. looked up at his older brother and said, "I don't want to go." He then proceeded to tell Matt about his nightmare. "I don't want to meet that evil Digimon and see Angemon hurt."

Matt was silent a minute, secretly agreed with him, but not for the same reason. When they were in the Digital World last, Matt constantly was worried about T.K.'s safety, even when T.K. proved that he could take care of himself. If they went to the Digiworld again, Matt would be constantly worried about T.K., even though he knew he could take care of himself. It was because Matt was his older brother, and he felt he had to take care of him.

"Well T.K., I don't want to go either, but we have an obligation. We were given the Digivices because we're the Digidestined, and we need to use them, even if we are in danger." Matt winced, and knew T.K. probably wouldn't buy that, even if he was a little kid.

"So what are we going to do?" T.K. asked, seeming for the moment, to accept what Matt had said. 

"Tai called a meeting at his house and we're going to decide if we're going or not." T.K. reached under his pillow and pulled out his Digivice. He held it, and the two brothers stared at the small device which was a harbinger of great power, and possibly great evil.

__

Five minutes later, same high-rise, different apartment . . .

Yagami Taichi, or Tai, was nervously pacing the legnth of his small living room. Izzy was sitting on his couch, his laptop open on his lap, his fingers rapidly typing. He was trying to open up a program that recorded the Digimon that he had seen, but no luck so far. His Digivice, which he had found stuffed in the depths of his desk drawer, was fitted into a specially designed slot in the top right of the keyboard.

Kari, Tai's little sister, who was also one of the eight Digidestined, was playing with Meeko, the family's pet cat. Tai was just as surprised at Gennai's news as Izzy was, but he had mixed feeling about it. On one hand, it would be kind of cool to go back to the Digiworld and see all the Digimon again, but on the other hand, the last time they had been in the Digiworld, it wasn't exactly a picnic. They kept splitting up and Matt went kind of psycho on them for a while, not to mention they had to deal with the Dark Masters, who were the toughest Digimon they had ever seen. Matt had been a pain too, and more than once someone would have to separate Tai and Matt to prevent a fight. However, he would be able to spend more time with Sora. They were friends, and Tai felt that he wanted to be more than a friend to her. 

The doorbell rang suddenly, bringing Tai back from the midst of such thoughts. He moved to answer it, but Kari got there first. She opened the door, and in came Matt, T.K., Mimi, and Joe. Tai liked Mimi all right, for a friend, but Mimi didn't have that kind of . . . feeling that Sora had. Joe was this tall awkward kid with messed up hair and glasses. Of all the Digidestined, he was the oldest and destined to whine and complain. He also was allergic to about half the things on the planet. They all came through a short foyer, passed the kitchen, and sat down in the living room. Izzy looked up from his work, and greeting everyone.

Everyone took a seat, Mimi on the Davenport, Matt and T.K. on the love seat, and Joe kind of sat hunched up against the wall. Tai moved to start pacing again, but then saw that everyone's eyes were on him, so he sat next to Izzy instead. There were several minutes of awkward silence, when the doorbell toned suddenly, causing Tai to almost fall off the edge of his seat. Kari beat him to the door again, from where she was sitting in the entranceway to the hall. She opened the door and there was Sora.

Tai had to restrain himself from getting up, because if he did, he would probably trip over his own feet. She looked the same as ever, but her big brown eyes were so warm and inviting . . . and her figure wasn't bad either. She greeted everyone as she came into the livingroom, and by the powers that be, she sat down on the couch next to Tai. Of course, that was the only seat left save from the floor, but Tai didn't realize that. 

Izzy typed for a few more seconds and then began talking, probably because he knew Tai needed a few minutes to go into his leadership mode. He gave them a brief summary of what Gennai had said, and when the others appeared skeptical, he turned his laptop around, put it on Tai's coffee table so all could see, and then pressed a few keys. Gennai's entire message played before their eyes, and when it was over none of them were skeptical anymore. Tai got up and slowly moved to the center of the room. "So what we have to do now, " he pulled his Digivice off his belt and held it out for all to see. "Is decide if we go." He put his Digivice down on the coffee table nest to the on-screen frozen image of Gennai, almost dramatically. 

Izzy detached his Digivice from his computer and placed it next to Tai's without a word. Sora looked at Tai, and he looked back at her, and their eyes met. Sora smiled, almost reflexively, and pulled her Digivice from her belt and placed it next to Tai's. 

Matt said nothing, but put his Digivice in the middle of the living room rug. "My decision is not to go." T.K. and Joe, almost simultaneously, placed their devices next to his. Mimi and Kari looked at each other, and Mimi placed her Digivice nest to Matt's and Kari placed hers next to Sora's. 

"Well, this is great." Joe said, "A tie. Someone has to break it, one way or the other." The entire room fell totally silent, everyone watching everyone else to see who would break the tie. Even Izzy had closed his laptop and was watching the others. 

Mimi finally broke the silence and moved her device next to Izzy's, so now the majority was for going. "That's for Chuumon." She said, as she sat back down. Chuumon was a pink mouse Digimon who had given up his life to save Mimi, and she never forgot about that. 

"But we don't even know what we're going against!" Joe said. "We had a rough enough time getting out of the Digiworld alive last time, why would we want to go back?" Matt demanded. 

"We got through it once, we can do it again. " Tai replied.

"Listen Tai, just because—" Matt didn't care that his voice rose. He would not be dragged back into the Digiworld willingly. 

"How can you forget Whamon? And Chuumon, Pixiemon, and Wizardmon? They gave up their lives for you!" Mimi said. Her voice rose as well. 

"Theoretically speaking, Genni would not have asked us to come back if we did not have a chance to defeat these new bad Digimon." Izzy said. 

"We can't let those bad Digimon hurt innocent people." Kari said determinably. Even though she was only eight years old, she had certain principles, and she stuck adamantly by them.

Matt looked like he was about to day something, but Kari and Mimi glared at him, so he stayed quiet. Matt looked down at T.K. and appeared to suddenly make up his mind.

As if they had rehearsed it before hand, Matt, Joe and T.K. moved their devices from the floor to join the others on the coffee table. "This time, we're going to be prepared," Joe said, as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"Well, I've got my first aid kit," Sora offered.

"And I have my cooking gear." Mimi said,

"OK, and we can use duffel bags to carry whatever else we need." Tai said.

"Well, logically speaking, we probably won't need to bring that much food, at least not in the beginning. Gennai will supply us with whatever we'll need." Izzy said. 

"Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm going to bring a few changes of clothes." Mimi said, as she put her hat back on. Matt, Joe, T.K. and Mimi got up and went back to their apartments. Izzy folded up his computer and slipped it into a kind of backpack. Tai slipped his pocket telescope into his pocket, and after a moment's thought, he added a compass. Kari had her trusty whistle, and that was about it. Sora had her blue bike helmet set back on her red hair, but she made no move to bring anything else. Sora noticed Tai looking at her, and smiled, slightly, so that no one else would notice.

The others came back a few minutes later, ready, if you can be ready for the kind of trip they were about to embark upon. "We should be OK, timewise speaking," Izzy said. "Time passes on the Digiworld a lot faster than on Earth."

"Let's do it, then." Tai held out his Digivice, and the others formed a kind of a circle, their devices in the middle. Once all eight were in a circle, the screen in the center of the circle exploded in a flash of light. The light grew, brighter and brighter, and then with a flash ten times brighter than lightning, they were gone.

Tai, as well as the others, felt a kind of weightlessness, almost as if they were falling out of a plane. They could not see anything outside of the each other, falling in close proximity, but they could notice that there was a kind of greenish tint on the horizon, but nothing more. There was a sudden jerk, like when a parachutist opens his parachute, and they suddenly found themselves sitting in Gennai's house, atop traditional Japanese cushioned pillows.

Gennai suddenly came into the room, just as the Digidestined realized where they were. "Hello kids!" Gennai said, catching them off guard. They greeted him in the same way, and he sat down at the head of the table. 

"It's been a while, hasn't it?" he laughed quietly to himself, as he saw the way that they were looking at him expectantly. "I know you are all eager to see your Digimon again, but you must be patient. First I must tell you what has happened and why you have been called here." He snapped his fingers, and a large white screen unfurled, hanging against the fat wall. He snapped again, and a large picture of Eldritchmon appeared. He was holding his short wooden staff, and his eyes were dark and slanted. "This is Eldritchmon. He is the leader of the Dark Alliance, and is much stronger than Piedmon. He is a master of Dark Magic, and will stop at nothing to take over the Digiworld."

"Then how are we supposed to beat him? We barely beat Piedmon." Matt pointed out.

"This time all of your Digimon will be able to evolve into their Mega forms. You must figure out how to do this for yourselves."

""What about the other members of the Dark Alliance?" Joe asked.

"I don't know who they are, so when you find out, I will know as well." Gennai fell silent, and saw the way everyone was sitting on the edges of their seats. He laughed again quietly to himself. Youngsters these days have no patience whatsoever. 

"Well I suppose I won't be able to tell you the rest. You're more jumpy than a room full of Gazimon. Here are your Digimon." Gennai snapped his fingers, a doorway appeared in the wall, revealing a small dark tunnel. Agumon, a yellow dinosaur Digimon was the first to emerge, almost confused. 

"Agumon!" Tai yelled, as he ran over to his friend. Next came Biyomon, a pink bird type Digimon. "Oh Biyo!" Sora cried, as she ran over to her friend and hugged her. "Mimi!" a kind of green plant Digimon standing on two legs came out next. "Palmon!" Mimi ran over to greet her friend. 

Next came Patamon, a small yellow Digimon with wings for ears, Tentomon, and a red bug type Digimon that could fly. There was also Gomamon, a kind of small walrus/seal Digimon, Gabumon, a small yellow bear Digimon wearing a blue and white stripped coat of fur, and lastly Gatomon, a small white cat Digimon that stood on her hind legs. T.K., Izzy, Joe, Matt and Kari ran to their friends in turn, and everyone started talking at once. Gennai let them, knowing that if he tried to stop them they would go on talking anyway. They had not seen each other for several months, so they had a lot to talk about. 

Twenty minutes later, when the talk had started to subside, Gennai stood up and watched them all, but said nothing. He was like a teacher, waiting patiently for his students to be quiet so he could get on with the lesson. The Digidestined took the hint, and made their way back to their seats, carrying or following their Digimon. 

"Now, if we're all settled," Gennai sat back down. When no one said anything and everyone appeared to be calmed down again, he began talking. "After you left the Digiworld, it reconfigured itself, as I said it would, and things were as they were before Devimon came. The Dark Alliance has been here, growing in secret during all these years. They then surfaced, very recently, but I didn't know about them until a few hours ago. They came upon Devimon, Etemon, and Myotismon, and even when Etemon and Myotismon became MetalEtemon and VenomMyotismon, the Dark Alliance still defeated them."

"Wait a minute. We defeated all those guys!" Tai interrupted. 

"More than once!" Joe added. 

"Didn't you hear what I just said? Years have passed between now and when you defeated them. They have grown from Digi-eggs, although not as strong as before."

"What about our crests?" Izzy asked. "Weren't they destroyed?"

"When the Digital World was re-created, your crests were as well. I have them here." Gennai snapped his fingers, and eight tags, which were pendants with crests of energy in them appeared before each of the Digidestined. 

Tai's was the Crest of Courage, Sora's was the Crest of Love, Mimi's was the Crest of Sincerity, Izzy's the Crest of Knowledge, T.K's the Crest of Hope, Joe's the Crest of Reliability, Matt's the Crest of Friendship, and Kari's was the Crest of Light. These crests were essential in allowing the Digimon to Digivolce into their Ultimate, and Mega levels. Each of the Digidestined slipped his or her crest over their head before Agumon asked, "Where will we find them, Gennai?"

"I don't know that, either, I'm afraid. You'll have to look for them yourselves, but they'll come looking for you as well."

"Great." Joe gulped, as the others nervously laughed. "C'mon buddy, they can't be that bad." Gomamon encouraged him.

"What about the other Digimon, like Leomon and Frigimon?" Matt asked. 

"They will be in hiding. The Dark Alliance has all the good Digimon scared stiff, even more so than the Dark Masters had."

"If the Digiworld was reconfigured, does that mean that Pixiemon, Whamon, Wizardmon and Chuumon are alive?" Mimi asked, almost rising to her feet in her excitement. 

"Yes, but that doesn't mean you'll meet up with them again."

"What about food for the trip?" T.K. asked. "I don't like going hungry."

"That reminds me." Gennai snapped again, a big white duffel bag appeared out of nowhere and dropped at Joe's feet. "That bad has enough food in it for several days, and you will be able to find berries and other things in the woods. Water may be gotten at any stream because the Dark Alliance has not had enough time to take control of everything. Now unless you have further questions, you had better be going."

"How will we be able to get our Digimon to digivolve to Mega?" Izzy asked, looking down at Tentomon. 

"It can be done, but you must find out how to do it for yourselves. Remember: the key lies within each of you. I wish you luck, kids, and I will look in on you from time to time, but this is your journey, not mine, as the Digidestined." 

As they got up and prepared to leave, Gennai added, "I will transport you to the factory that Andromon lives in. He will help you from there." They stood before him, like soldiers do before their general, and the old general inspected his young troops with a smile. Their Digimon stood next to each one, ready and willing to fight and defeat the Dark Alliance. Gennai smiled again, when he saw this, but in his heart he knew that it was going to be no easy task to accomplish, much harder than the Dark Masters. Still, he bowed low before them in a symbol of great respect. 

The room around the Digidestined faded away from them, as if they were traveling backwards at incredible speeds away from the room. The room, with Gennai in it faded into the eerie green background. Another room appeared to slide in around them, as if the room was now traveling forwards at the same speed they were. There was another slight jerk, and the room with the Digidestined in it stopped.

The Digidestined were in the main entrance way of an old, abandoned factory. There was a long, dark corridor ahead of them, and darkness seemed to leak out of the hallway like a fog. Not far behind them, in the open entrance to the hallway, the sun was blazingly bright, even through the thick boughs of the trees, but the darkness seemed to mop up a lot of the light, like a sponge will to water. 

"Where's the light switch?" Kari asked. Her voice echoed and magnified down the long metal corridor, and it seemed to the Digidestined that it went on forever, growing duller and fainter as it moved down the seemingly endless hallway.

"We're actually going in there again?" Mimi asked, almost disbelieving. 

'We have to." Tai said quietly, almost to himself. 

"Don't worry, Tai, you have us Digimon with you." Agumon reassured him, but even the little dinosaur, who had so much incredible power within him, sounded a little uncertain. 

"Yeah." Tai gulped, trying to force down the lump in his throat. He was not scared, only wary of the unknown which lay before them, enshrouded in the inky darkness and metallic shell. The last time they had been here was almost disastrous, but it had turned out all right in the end. Hopefully this time would have the same ending. He suddenly felt a warm hand on his shoulder, and he turned, coming almost nose to nose with Sora. She smiled warmly, and Tai felt his heart skip a beat, but he also felt his courage returning, and in that end, his own crest shimmered slightly. "We've got a job to do. Let's do it." He said, regaining his confidence. 

Matt was about to make a comment about how this wasn't some old Western were they could go in with guns blazing, but a look from Sora stopped him. 

"I have a rough outline of a map of this place somewhere in my computer." Izzy pulled his computer out from his backpack and held in with one hand while typing with the other. "Yes . . . . here it is . . . . go straight down this hallway . . . . and then take the right hand fork." The Digidestined moved in, two by two, their Digimon at the ready. Gennai had fed them well, so they had enough energy for several evolutions before they would have to eat again. 

They passed, slow and careful, through the long, rapidly darkening hallway. They took a right in the fork, as Izzy had said, and the hallway lead straight into the middle of a large open space. Computer consuls, conveyor belts, and other pieces of machinery sat, cobwebbed and dust ridden here and there, but for the most part a large space was clear in the center of the large room. Just as they reached that center, something whistled overhead like a dropped bomb and had the same effect. A large piece of machinery that looked like a colossal printing press exploded into tiny pieces of shrapnel. Joe and Mimi, who were in the front gave a yell, and sensing their distress, both their Digimon responded. Energy poured from both of their Digivices and engulfed both Gomamon and Palmon, so they began Digivolving. 

"Gomamon Digivolved to . . . . Ikkakumon!" 

Palmon Digivolved to . . . . Togemon!"

A tall green cactus, perhaps fifteen feet tall wearing red punching gloves and had a small fringe of straw hair at the top of her prickly head stood where Palmon had moments before. Gomamon now stood as the twenty foot tall Ikkakumon, a large white walrus with a long horn at the top of his head. Long tusks protruded downwards from his mouth. The two Champion Digimon stood at the ready, to protect the Digidestined from whatever threatened them. 

"Digidestined? I am sorry. My visual sensors did not recognize you ntil after I had launched that missile." Andromon, a eight foot tall robot stepped out of the shadows before them. 

"Andromon?" Izzy asked.

"Yes. What brings you Digidestined back to the Digiworld?" 

"Gennai summoned us to battle the Dark Alliance." 

Andromon remained silent for a minute before he spoke again. "Who is the Dark Alliance? I have received no information about any alliance."

"They are trying to take over the Digiworld." T.K. said. 

"Ah. The Digidestined. And Andromon. Astonishingly perceptive, as all ways." A cold chill voice split the air maybe a dozen feet ahead of them. It was dark and evil, even more so than any of the Virus Digimon that they had seen.


	3. Default Chapter Title

"Ah. The Digidestined. And Andromon. Astonishingly perceptive, as all ways." A cold chill voice split the air maybe a dozen feet ahead of them. It was dark and evil, even more so than any of the Virus Digimon that they had seen. There was nothing to be seen in the low light but suddenly the light seemed to totally vanish from a particular spot, close to where the voice had come from, as if it had been sucked up by a powerful unseen vacuum cleaner. The darkness grew and thickened, and suddenly the Digidestined became aware of dark shapes materializing within the dark impenetrable shadows that were unnaturally thick and dark. 

The air shimmered just ahead of the thickening shadows, just in the light, and suddenly Eldritchmon stood before them, clutching his wooden staff in his right hand. "I see Gennai has wasted no time in summoning you to prevent us from taking over the Digital World. A useless gesture." Eldritchmon smiled evilly. "We will not fall as the Dark Master fools did." The shadows in the dense fog behind him seemed to expand, as if whatever was in the shadows was growing. Out of nowhere, four pairs of eyes appeared in the fog and appeared to cut through it like a lighthouse beacon. The eyes were cold and hard, and glared at the Digidestined.

"You will not harm them, Eldritchmon!" Andromon said in a commanding voice. He held out his right arm, a section of it folded back in upon itself, and two large missiles streaked straight for Eldritchmon. He didn't move, even as the missiles hit him head on. The missiles would easily have leveled a small house, but they did nothing more to Eldritchmon than ruffle his cloaks. He smirked, and lifted up his left hand. "Magical Force!" The explosion of magical energy threw Andromon clear through the opposite wall. 

"OK, so that's how you want to play?" Tai detached his Digivice and held it out. "Let's go, Agumon!" 

"Right!" Agumon stepped into the incredible energies of the device, and began to warp-digivolve through all his stages into his Mega form. "Agumon Warp-Digivolved to . . . . . WarGreymon!" 

Matt held out his Digivice over Gabumon as well, it's energies spilling over like water from a bowl. "Gabumon Warp-Digivolved to . . . . . MetalGarurumon!" 

WarGreymon stood at least ten feet tall, clad in shining gold robotic armor and had wings on his back housed in a sheath that had the Crest of Courage on it. On the ends of his gauntlets were sharp piercing claws called 'Dramon Destroyers,' because they were especially effective at destroying Dramon type Digimon like MetalSeadramon and MachineDramon. 

MetalGarurumon stood only a little more than half his height, but he was just as powerful as WarGreymon. He was a mostly cybernetic wolf, with splotches of blue fur here and there, standing on all four legs. He had razor sharp wings which unfurled on his shoulders, allowing him to fly as well. 

"WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon? Very effective. Allow me to introduce you to two of my friends!" Two Digimon stepped silently from the shadows and into the light. One appeared to be an eight foot tall ninja, clad in black samurai armor, with a long, black, curved sword sheathed at his side. Only his eyes, burning like coals were visible over his black faceplate. 

The other was a fifteen foot tall strangely built black colored Digimon that appeared to be all spindly arms and legs. Its eyes were large and yellow, and it carried a long, black jagged staff like a lightning bolt in it's long multi-fingered hands. 

"This is Musyamon." Eldritchmon indicated the ninja-type Digimon, "And this is Phobiamon." He indicated the other. 

A picture of both of these two Digimon appeared on Izzy's computer screen and was recorded in his Digivice. 

Whether or not because of some hidden signal given by Eldritchmon, Phobiamon stepped up to the Digidestined. MetalGarurumon bristled but did not attack, as he had not the time.

"Sense Crusher!" Phobiamon whirled his strange misshapen black staff over his head and then brought it slicing downwards in an explosion of energy, and all of the Digimon besides WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon shrank backwards. 

"Kari! I can't see you!" Gatomon yelled out, speaking for all of the Digimon. 

"Digivolve!" Sora yelled.

"I can't!" Biyomon cried out. 

"What did you do to them?" Tai demanded.

"Made it so they can't Digivolve, as well as making them blind!" Phobiamon said with a high-pitched laugh. 

Matt gritted his teeth but MetalGarurumon was a step ahead of him. "Ice Wolf Claw!" Several small sections of his robotic body folded back and several small rockets burst forth and struck Phobiamon head on, encasing him in a thick covering of ice, freezing him to the spot.

"Mega Blade!" With a flash of Musyamon's curved blade, the ice fell away. 

"Nova Force!" WarGreymon generated a large red ball of energy as a big as he was in between his two outstretched arms and launched it at Eldritchmon. 

"Wall of Darkness!" Eldritchmon held out his hands and the air directly in front of his grew darker and appeared to form a thick wall of darkness. The Nova Force energies hit the wall with more force than a wrecking ball, but Eldritchmon was unfazed. 

"Blade of Darkness!" Musyamon's blade flashed with an evil light as it slashed down towards WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon. The impact send them both slamming into the far wall. 

"I can see!" Ikkakumon yelled.

"Digivolve!" Joe yelled, holding out his Digivice. It's energies leapt up and were joined by the energies from his crest before slamming into Ikkakumon. 

"Ikkakumon Digivolve to . . . . Zudomon!" A thirty foot tall turtle-like creature with fur and teeth with a large shell on it's back was now in Ikkakumon's place. In it's right hand was a large hammer. "Vulcan's Hammer!" The large hammer slammed against the ground and the force of the hit created a spike of energy which shot like an arrow straight for Musyamon. He swung his sword, and the blade cleaved the energy spike into two and it vanished. Musyamon moved to counter-attack—

"Flower Cannon!" 

Lillymon, the ultimate form of Togemon, who was a small flying pixie shot off a powerful blast from her outstretched hands. Musyamon took the hit without much interest, and was about to react when MetalGarurumon launched another volley of the ice rockets. Lillymon flew up higher, her wings flapping so fast they were a blur to the eye. "My lei of flowers can counter-effect Phobiamon's attack!" she zipped around the other Digimon that had been effected by Phobiamon, her wings spreading a gentle powder finer than sand, reviving the others. 

There were several explosions of energy, as Biyomon Digivolved first to Birdramon and then to Garudamon, a thirty foot tall Indian bird with red wings on her back. Tentomon Digivolved to Kabuterimon and then to MegaKabuterimon, a huge brown scarab beetle. 

Musyamon raised his sword and was about to attack, but Eldritchmon stopped him with a gesture. Phobiamon sprang up, and whirling his strange staff over his head, "Pantaphobia!" The spinning staff shot out oddly colored spikes of energy in all directions, and those who were hit by the strange beams devolved. 

"WarGreymon!" Tai yelled, as he ran to him as he reverted back to Agumon. All devolved, save Garudamon and MegaKabuterimon, who had avoided being hit. Eldritchmon was about to strike again when a fireball whistled overhead and the floor directly in front of Eldritchmon burst into flame, causing the Dark Alliance to back up a few steps. Andromon ran up to them, with Meramon at his heels. "Digidestined, you must leave this place! This battle will not be yours, but future ones may be! Go!" 

Tai hesitated, and when he did, Matt shoved him back. "Forget the stupid battle, Tai! Let's get out of here!" Tai glared at Matt, as all of the Digidestined and their Digimon climbed into Garudamon's outstretched hands. As she spread her huge wings, MegaKabuterimon launched an attack at the roof. 

"Horn Buster!" a bolt of energy leapt from his horn like a thunderbolt and punched a large hole in the ceiling, causing the entire factory to start caving in. 

"You won't escape that easily!" Eldritchmon yelled out, but he could not see clearly though the flames and smoke and falling debris to hit anyone with his attack. 

"We will hold them off. Go!" Andromon yelled. Garudamon leapt into the air, shot through the rapidly widening hole in the ceiling, and exploded out into the sky, with her cargo of the Digidestined. MegaKabuterimon was only seconds behind her. A few seconds after they had totally cleared the factory and were airborne, there was an incredible explosion of energy, and the factory blew up with the force of an atom bomb. 

Mimi, clinging to Garudamon's enormous fingers cried out, "Andromon! Meramon!" But there was nothing left of the factory, when the blast had died down than a few twisted fragments of metal and a charred spot which marked where the factory had once stood. 

Garudamon and MegaKabuterimon poured on the speed, never stopping until they had reached a large clearing more than a hundred miles away. As the Digidestined were set down on solid ground they breathed a sigh of relief. No one had been physically hurt, thanks to the heroism of Andromon and Meramon, but everyone was pretty weary, even Patamon and Gatomon, who had not gotten the chance to Digivolve. 

As Garudamon and MegaKabuterimon shrank back down to Biyomon and Tentomon, Matt turned again on Tai. "What's with you, Tai? Always out for a fight? You think we could've beaten those guys? If Andromon hadn't shown up, we would probably be dead by now! And all you want to do is fight, fight, fight! This isn't some kind of video game when you get killed you get another chance! We're playing for keeps here Tai!" If Matt had been thinking logically and if his head was clearer, he would have known that what he was saying was not really fair. 

Tai was almost to tired to argue, but before he could say any thing, Sora got between them both. She was silent, but got her point across better with her silence then any words could have done. Matt glared past Sora at Tai for a minute, and then turned away and walked over to where Gabumon stood. "This is stupid. I'm going off on my own. I don't need you!" He stormed off, not even noticing the fact that he was leaving T.K. behind, nor Gabumon's pleas for him to listen to reason. 

Joe looked first at the others, and then at Matt. "I'll talk to him. The last thing we need now if for us to be separated again." He followed after Matt, with Gomamon running to catch up. 

Tai turned to the others, standing in a small group off to the side, silent. When they saw Tai looking at them, they stared at the ground or pretended to be interested in the surrounding foliage. Only Sora met Tai's gaze, and her smile lightened some of his mood. 

"We're going to need a safe place to plan. Any ideas, Izzy?" Tai asked, once more taking up his automatic leadership role. 

"Yes. Well, I have a plan, but we need everyone. I can explain it, though." He turned to the small red insectoid Digimon at his side. "Tentomon, we're going to need some air transport." 

"You got it, Izzy." Tentomon said, as the energies from Izzy's Digivice spiked up and slammed into him. 

"Tentomon digivolve to . . . . Kabuterimon!" 

As the six remaining children and their Digimon 'boarded' this large blue insect with large wings, T.K. asked in a small voice that was barely heard over the rush of Kabuterimon's wings, "What about Matt?" 

"Matt needs time to chill." Tai replied. He was about to add a snide remark, but then thought the better of it. As Kabuterimon rose up into the air, beating his large translucent wings several times a second, a loud roar was heard overhead. 

The Digidestined looked up, and there was Kuwagamon, a large red beetle type Digimon, flying on large wings similar to Kabuterimon's. Kuwagamon was in fact the first Digimon the kids had encountered, aside from their own. Kuwagamon shot towards them, its large mandibles snapping fiercely. Kabuterimon turned and dodged to one side in mid air, and Kuwagamon shot past. 

"ElectroShocker!" a burst of electrical energy slammed into Kuwagamon head on, sending him plummeting into a grove of trees like a dropped rock. Kabuterimon flew on, almost indifferent, with his precious cargo of six of the eight Digidestined in tow.

__

Nearly five miles away and increasing distance . . .

Matt and Joe and Gomamon were riding on Garurumon, a large wolf with blue and white fur who Matt had practically forced to Digivolve. They were going at a steady pace through the rapidly thinning out forest around them. With a leap, Garurumon cleared a sea of ferns in the middle of two trees, and landed in an immense, roving grassland. As they continued on, gradually picking up speed, Joe thought he could see something coming towards them in the distance, but couldn't be sure. He shielded his eyes from the sun and squinted. Then he pointed it out to Matt, who had better eyesight, and Matt said, "That looks like Leomon!" 

"But MetalEtemon sent him back to the Primary Village!" Joe said.

"Years have passed since we've been here, Joe." Matt pointed out, and Joe fell silent. Garurumon kept up his steady pace, and the creature that looked to be Leomon came closer. As he did so, Joe couldn't shake the foreboding feeling that he had. 

As they got nearer, they saw that it was indeed Leomon; standing over eight feet tall, his short sword sheathed at his side. When they were perhaps ten feet away, Garurumon stopped and Leomon came up to them. 

"Digidestined! I am glad to see you here on the Digital World again. I have come to warn you. The six children you were traveling with are not the real Digidestined!"

"What?" Matt asked, now knowing that this could not be the real Leomon. 

"That was what—" Leomon paused, and then looked off into the distance. "Look! Rockmon and Starmon!" 

Suddenly Matt and Joe saw them as well. Rockmon, a rock-type Digimon with oversized arms was lumbering at a good pace towards them. At his side was Starmon, a star-fish type Digimon with arms and legs.

"Rock Punch!" Rockmon raised a large fist, and a large rock shot from it, streaking straight for Matt and Joe. 

"Fist of the Beast King!" a burst of energy, in the shape of a lion's head blew the rock into small fragments. Leomon ran towards the pair of Digimon, drawing his sword as he went.

"Meteor Storm!" Five fireballs, one erupting from each ray of the star, shot towards Leomon. He deflected them all off the flat of his blade. Rockmon swiped out at Leomon with a large fist. Leomon easily dodged, and fired another lion shaped burst of energy point blank at Rockmon. The blast hit Rockmon head on, and he seemed to dissolve into small fragments. 

"Howling Blaster!" Garurumon leapt for Starmon, a blast of icy blue energy shooting from his mouth. Starmon was hit by the glancing blow, and he dissolved as well. Matt and Joe and Gomamon, who had gotten off of Garurumon, came running up to the two victorious Champion Digimon.

"You must believe me." Leomon said, as he sheathed his short sword. 

Matt glanced sidelong at Joe, and they appeared to communicate without words. They would listen to Leomon, but they would still be very wary. 

Joe, Matt, and Gomamon climbed back atop Garurumon's back, and with Leomon following in long even strides, they went back the way they had came. They came to the clearing that they had parted ways at, and Garurumon lowered his large nose to the ground and took a few experimental sniffs. 

"They flew away, on Kabuterimon." He decided, and then raised his head and sniffed the air. "They went this way." he leapt off further into the forest, with Leomon following close behind. They came swiftly to the ruins that Mimi and Izzy had gotten lost in and met up with Centarumon. 

Matt jumped off the blue and white wolf, and approached the entrance to the ruins warily, his Digiviced clutched tightly in his hand. T.K. and Patamon came out just then, and a spike of doubt of what Leomon had said washed over Matt. Then, almost as if he had rubbed his eyes and looked again, it appeared than T.K was surrounded by a darkness and that Patamon had Digivolved to Angemon and was about to attack. 

Matt stepped back with a cry, energy exploding from the device in his hand. "Garurumon Digivolved to . . . . WereGarurumon!" Garurumon Digivolved into his Ultimate stage, which was a kind of werewolf with high kicks and jumps. 

"Gomamon Digivolved to . . . . Ikkakumon! Ikkakumon Digivolved to . . . . . . . Zudomon!" 

T.K., seeing his brother in such a state, ran back inside the ruins to get the others. They came out, almost at once, but to Matt and Joe and the two Ultimate Digimon, it looked as if they were the opposing army. 

"Wolf Claw!" Scarlet claws of energy shot out as WereGarurumon slashed out at the air. The scarlet slashes of energy slammed into the side of the ruins, dangerously close to the Digidestined. 

'Not again!" Tai yelled, as his device spilled out energy to Agumon. 

"Agumon Digivolved to . . . . Greymon! Greymon Digivolved to . . . MetalGreymon!" The large cyborg/dinosaur ultimate form of Agumon slashed out at WereGarurumon with his robotic arm. "Mega Claw!" 

Patamon, who had lightened on T.K's head, suddenly shouted, "That's not Leomon!" 

"Correct, Digifools!" Leomon laughed. He appeared to shrink and shift in upon himself, as if he was melting. With a flash, Leomon changed into a small Digimon that appeared to be made out of parts of a camera. He stood only a few feet tall, but anyone could tell that this red and black Digimon meant serious business.

Biyomon flew to Sora's side and cried, "Oh no! That's Photomon! He can turn into anything that he sees! He's one of the Dark Alliance!"

"Correct, and you are now going to be over-developed!" Photomon laughed, in almost a strange sing-song yet grating voice. 

"We'll see about that!" Tai gritted his teeth, and shot a glance at the monstrous MetalGreymon next to him. 

"Giga Blaster!" 

Two ports, which were missile silos, opened up in the middle of MetalGreymon's robotic chest, twin missiles exploded out and streaked straight for Photomon. These special missiles, which had destroyed Etemon, did nothing more to Photomon than a B.B. gun does to an elephant. 

"You tricked us!!" Matt yelled, enraged at Photomon's bamboozling him, and also at his own foolishness at running off from the rest of the group.

"Wolf Claw!"

"Vulcan's Hammer!" 

Photomon shrugged off the attacks easily, laughing to himself at how these fools would dare attack the Dark Alliance in such a weak state.

"Horn Buster!" 

MegaKabuterimon, who had been patrolling the skies overhead, streaked straight down for Photomon, like a charging rhino, with enough power to level an office building. Photomon laughed as he took the blow, almost as if he was hit by a feather.

"Flash of Darkness!" A burst of evil light exploded from Photomon, as if day had suddenly become night or some thick black cloud was covering the earth, blocking out all the sunlight. Although it only lasted a few seconds, all the evolved Digimon fell to the ground, as if all their power was sapped. They tried to get up, but as they did so, they were surrounded in a white light and devolved to their rookie forms.

"Now to be rid of—" Photomon began.

"Hand of Fate!" A bright beam of white light exploded from Angemon's outstretched hand and lanced like an arrow straight for Photomon. 

"Celestial Arrow!" Angewoman fitted an arrow, forged completely from crackling white energy, and let it fly from her bow, straight as a ruler.

Both extremely powerful attacks would have hit Photomon, and the extent of their damage to him would have been known, if not for the fact that he blunted their attacks. 

"Flash of Darkness!" The same black, evil light burst like a cork from a champagne bottle from Photomon, and instantly, both Angemon's and Angewoman's attacks faded and disappeared. The two angel type Digimon cringed before the unnatural black light, but were not done fighting yet. 

"Heaven's Charm!" Angewoman spread her arms, gathering celestial energy within her, and then shot her arms out toward Photomon, at the same time, releasing her pent-up energies in one powerful blow. 

"Gigashocker!" A bolt of lightning appeared to lance straight from Photomon and cleave the angel's attack in two. Angemon rose up, his right fist glowing with a golden aura, but before he could attack, Photomon launched his 'Flash of Darkness', and both angel-type Digimon cringed and then fell under the blow, devolving back to Patamon and Gatomon as they fell.

Tai ran to help Agumon up, encouraging him as well as he could. "C'mon Agumon! This guy is a pushover! Now Piedmon, that was the hard stuff. This guy is nowhere near as powerful as Piedmon." 

"Who asked you?" Photomon yelled. "Gigashocker!" A bolt of lightning leapt straight for Tai, who saw the lightning heading for him, but was riveted with fear to the spot. Sora dove suddenly, shoved Tai barely out of the way in time, but she took the blow intended for him. 

Her scream pierced the air, as 12.21 Jigawatts of electrical energy shot through her body. Amazingly, she was not incinerated by the incredible energies, but instead stumbled, and fell forward, Tai leaping to catch her before she could hit the ground. 

She lay limp in his arms, and he quickly felt for some sign of life, but even before he did so, he knew that she – When he found no sign of life, she gently laid her prostate form on the ground, pinched her nose, and clamped his mouth over hers, and sent two quick breaths into her limp body.

Nothing, and even Tai was beginning to doubt that there would ever be anything more in her. Still he kept doggedly at it, even as the other Digidestined gathered around, mourning for their lost friend, ignoring for the moment, the fact that Photomon was still there. He was laughing to him self, and soon the degree of laughter went up, while the sanity in the laughter went down. 

Tai slowly laid Sora's body on the ground, his ears ringing with Photomon's laughter. His eyes flashed with a black rage, as he stood up and faced Sora's murderer. Had not the other Digidestined been standing between him and Photomon, he would have attacked Photomon by himself. 

"Agumon . . . ." he said quiet but menacingly. Agumon leapt to his side, ready to warp-digivolve. 

None of them noticed that Sora's Crest of Love was glowing with a celestial light. That light, combined with the brightly glowing Digivice still attached to Sora's belt, slammed into Biyomon, who was weeping on her friend's shoulder, like a runaway freighter. The Digidestined looked up, one by one, as the power of the Crest flowed into Biyomon like a river. Photomon stopped in mid-laugh, and stared at the brightly glowing small pink bird. 

"Biyomon Warp-Digivolved to . . . . . Phoenixmon!" 

Biyomon had changed into her Mega form, Phoenixmon, a huge deep red bird with long trailing tail feathers of colors of the rainbow. With a musical cry, Phoenixmon spread her forty foot wingspan, and leapt effortlessly into the air, circling high above Photomon like a carrion bird. 

"What is this?" Photomon asked, as he warily watched Phoenixmon circle him. "But Eldritchmon said there were only two Mega Digimon to contend with!" he appeared to shake off this last comment, and his voice went back to it's dark, cold state. "No matter. Gigashocker!" A bolt of lightning leapt straight for Phoenixmon, who dodged it easily. 

"There's more than one way to skin a Mega!" he said. "Flash of—"

"Beak of Power!"

Phoenixmon banked in mid-air and then dove down straight for Photomon, her large beak shining brightly. Photomon tried to move, to get out of the way, but he found that he was riveted to the spot. Just before Phoenixmon reached Photomon, her beak grew even brighter, throwing the rest of her body into sharp contrast, almost as if she was a ghost. She passed straight through Photomon, soaring up into the air as she came through the other side. 

Photomon gave a horse cry of pain as he fell to the ground, virtually cleaved in two. Before his decapitated body could hit the ground, it dissolved into nothingness. Phoenixmon turned, and dove down again, towards the lifeless Sora. As she dove she devolved, back to Biyomon, and landed gently on her friend's outstretched arm. The other Digidestined and their Digimon, and even Tai had their heads bowed, and silence filled the air like an unbreakable fog. 

Energy flowed from the devolved Biyomon back into Sora's Crest, and for a minute it glowed even brighter. Then the energies from the crest appeared to diffuse from the Crest into Sora's body, and her body shimmered back to life. Sora's eyes slowly fluttered open, looked up at Tai and the others standing in grief, and said weakly, "Tai . . . ." 

Tai looked up, saw Sora alive and looking at him, and then wrapped her up tightly and hugged her for all he was worth. Sora smiled and hugged him back, turning her head, and meeting their lips as one. The other Digidestined, seeing Sora's miraculous return, jumped and clamored about for joy. Tai helped her up, and she clung still to his hand once she was steady on her feet. 

Izzy, who had once more gotten out his computer, said "Hey! There's another message from Gennai!" His fingers flew across the keyboard as the others gathered around him. Gennai appeared in a small window in the middle of the computer screen. 

"Hello kids! The Dark Alliance has slit up in an attempt to give them more time to plan out their attacks. So you must split up as well, while you have this opportunity. Phobiamon and Kronosmon have split away from the others, and they will be the ones you target. One group will go for Phobiamon, while the other concentrates on Kronosmon. Be aware, even if the odds are four to one, you will be hard pressed to defeat the members of the Dark Alliance." Tai shot a look at the others, telling them not to mention that they had defeated Photomon, as he felt that it could not have been that easy. Gennai ignored the lull in the conversation, and took the opportunity to type on the unforeseen keyboard before him. "I see Biyomon has reached her Mega stage of Phoenixmon. Congratulations! And now, Digidestined, I leave you with this. Not everything is as it seems. That's my favorite saying from this book of wise sayings." He held up an old, red leather bound book, and then began to read, not bothering to close the live video screen.

With a sigh, Izzy pushed a button and the screen grew black for a second before reverting to the desktop. A window opened automatically, and two separate maps suddenly appeared on the screen. One was labeled 'Directions to Kronosmon,' and the other was, 'Directions to Phobiamon.'

"Okay, so how are we going to split up?" Tai asked. He was directing the question to Izzy, but Mimi answered instead. "You decide, Tai. I mean you've done it so much, you should be used to it by now." Tai looked at Sora, who still had her fingers intertwined with his. Tai though a moment, mentally formatting the correct the correct teams equally balanced with intellect and power, before he said, "OK, I think I got it. Me, Sora, Izzy and Kari will hunt down Kronosmon, while Matt, T.K., Mimi and Joe go against Phobiamon."

"OK, how are we supposed to find Phobiamon without a map?" Matt demanded, "Sniff him out?" 

Tai looked to Izzy for an answer, who said, "Give me your Digivice." Matt handed Izzy his device, who fitted it into the specially made slot at the top of his keyboard. He typed rapidly but briefly, and then handed the device back to Matt. "I've uploaded a holographic map into your Digivice that is an exact replication of the one that Gennai gave us." 

"Well, suppose that we actually do manage to defeat Phobiamon," Joe said, shifting his duffel bag from one shoulder to the other. "Where will we meet up with you guys?" 

"Just a minute." Izzy carefully scrutinized the map on his screen, and then said, "There is a large patch of grassland maybe two miles wide behind both of their strong holds, and we can meet there." 

"What about food?" Kari asked, putting her hand on her stomach. Although she was smarter than most children her age, she still was a child, nonetheless. "Joe has the bag with all the food."

Joe opened the duffel bag, not quite knowing what to find. He pulled out a handful of silver-wrapped small bars that looks like bars of chocolate. 

"Um . . . . it was nice of Gennai, but I don't think there's a dentist anywhere on the Digiworld, and I didn't bring my toothbrush." Joe said.

Gabumon went over and gave the bag an experimental sniff. "Smells good, whatever it is. Maybe it is candy!" Gabumon had had candy and other sweets when he was on Earth, and he thought those foods to be on a special pillar above all others. 

"Theoretically, Gennai would have given us sufficient food to sustain us so that we might finish this mission." Izzy grabbed a few bars and stuffed them into his pockets, and Tai, Sora, and Kari followed suit, stuffing their pockets with the strange food bars. 

The two groups then lined up, ready to go their separate ways, but then stopped and stared at the ground. None of them actually wanted to split up, as they all remembered what hardships they encountered and had to deal with once they were split up. Force in numbers was the way to defeat the Dark Alliance; that was the only way they could have beaten Piedmon, and they did it, even by the slimmest of margins. 

"I guess this is good-bye, at least for now." Mimi said. 

"Yeah . . . ." Kari glanced at her friends standing opposite her, but said nothing. She could not think of anything more to say. 

"Good luck, you guys." Sora said, finally. She had dropped Tai's hand and was now looking at her Digivice. 

"Remember, if you need to locate us, use your Digivices." Izzy said. An awkward silence followed, one that almost did not like to be broken.

Tai finally broke up the two groups, feeling that it was his duty as the leader. If he didn't, they would probably still be standing there. "See you later, then." Was all he could think of to say, as the others followed his lead, breaking up into the two groups, each group going its separate way.


	4. Default Chapter Title

After walking for several minutes in silence at a good pace, Izzy, who had been monitoring their progress through the forest on his computer, said, "We've got maybe . . . ten more miles to go."

"We're getting no where fast like this!" Sora said. She turned to the small pink bird Digimon trotting after her. "Biyomon, can you Digivolve and fly us there?" 

"Sure Sora! Consider it done!" Biyomon spread her small wings and flew up, making a subtle Digivolve to Birdramon as she went. Birdramon soared up into the sky, banked, and drifted back down, her huge red wings open like parachutes. "Climb on, everyone." She said, as she landed feet first on the ground. Tai, Sora, and Agumon climbed up on one of her tree-trunk sized legs, while Kari, Gatomon, Izzy and Tentomon climbed up on the other. 

Birdramon tucked her large wings back along her sides, and then leapt up into the air like a rabbit. She opened her large wings, soared up above the tall tree tops, and leveled out at perhaps a mile up, and started flapping, keeping her legs outstretched beneath her, which is an un-birdlike trait, as birds tuck their legs against their bodies to make themselves as streamline as possible. 

They traveled like this for a few minutes, until Birdramon saw something far below. "Is that what we're looking for?" she asked.

Izzy consulted his computer, and then looked down towards the ground, squinting to see what Birdramon's great eyes had seen. "I see it! That's it, Birdramon! Take us down!" Birdramon swooped down gently, once more using her great wings as large parachutes. They landed without mishap, in a small but concealing grove of trees, and as Izzy determined where they were, Birdramon shrank back down to Biyomon. 

Tai pushed some low branches out of the way, and peered out past the small forest that they were in. Directly in front of him, perhaps ten yards, was a large, incredibly old looking mansion. It could have been a haunted house, except for the fact that one did not become scared by looking at it, nor did the notion of the house being haunted even register in the mind. 

However, two Ultimate Digimon were standing guard in front of the old house, and when Izzy spotted them, both their pictures appeared on his computer screen. The one that looked like a huge woolly mammoth with a metal faceplate covering his eyes was called Mammothmon, and the other, a Triceratops which appeared to be able to stand on it's hind legs, called Triceramon. 

"What are we going to do about them?" Sora asked. 

"We've got to get past them. We don't want Kronosmon to be expecting us. Is there any other way into that mansion, Izzy?" Tai asked. 

"Let me see." He scrutinized the map more closely, and then said, "Yes. But we would have to completely circle the mansion to the back without being seen." 

"Let's do it. Gatomon, you lead the way."

"Of course. After all, we cats are known for our ability to walk without a sound." Gatomon lead the way, out of the small ring of trees, into a larger but less dense forest. They traveled as far away from the two Ultimates as they could, but they could not stop Kari from accidentally stepping on a stick and making it crack. 

"What was that?" Triceramon yelled in a deep craggy voice.

"Someone is in the forest." Mammothmon said, in a deeper voice that suggested he had a bad cold.

"Well, you know what our orders are. No one bothers Lord Kronosmon!" 

"Now what do we do Tai?" Izzy asked. He folded his computer, ready for a battle.

"We have no choice. We'll save WarGreymon and Phoenixmon for later. We need Angewoman and MegaKabuterimon now!"

"Tentomon Digivolve to . . . . Kabuterimon! Kabuterimon Digivolve to . . . MegaKabuterimon!" 

"Gatomon Digivolve to . . . . Angewoman!"

MegaKabuterimon flew up high, erupting from the covering of trees like a cannon ball, with Angewoman weaving gracefully, dodging the falling debris of shredded tree.

"There!" Triceramon pointed at MegaKabuterimon and Angewoman, who were rapidly closing in on them. "Tri-Horn Attack!" Three horns of energy erupted from Triceramon's large head and streaked like guided missiles towards the airborne pair. Angewoman easily dodged, and MegaKabuterimon took the hit, barely affected. 

"My turn!" he announced, in his deep bass like voice. "Horn Buster!" He slammed into both of the two opposing Ultimates at once, sending them both reeling. Mammothmon got to his feet first, and—

"Tusk Crusher!" Mammothmon returned MegaKabuterimon's blow with interest, sending the other Digimon back into orbit. 

"Tri-Horn Attack!" This time Triceramon's attack had some effect, and knocked MegaKabuterimon spinning, causing him to crash into a grove of trees. 

"Celestial Arrow!" A pure energy arrow streaked from Angewoman's bow and struck Triceramon head on, knocking him back. 

"Freezing Breath!" An ice cold stream of energy slammed into Angewoman, knocking her far back into the trees. MegaKabuterimon rose up, and caught her, cushioning her blow. "Let's do it together, MegaKabuterimon." She said, after she regained her balance in the air.

"Horn Buster!" A bolt of energy leapt from MegaKabuterimon's massive horn.

"Celestial Arrow!" Another energy-forged arrow, flew straight and true from the bow. 

Both attacks struck the massive Mammothmon head on, before he could dodge. He gave a yell of pain and surprise, and then disappeared into small fragments that were borne away by the wind.

"Mega Dash!" Triceramon launched himself, headfirst, straight for Angewoman, with all the power of a Mac truck in his massive, armored body. MegaKabuterimon flew up, directly in Triceramon's path, and Triceramon slammed into MegaKabuterimon's shell, which had the effect of slamming into a brick wall, and Triceramon was knocked head over heels.

As he climbed to his feet, MegaKabuterimon hit him like a linebacker, knocking him back into the old mansion. He went clear through the outer wall, and landed several feet inside, among a shower of wood chips. 

"You want to have the honors?" MegaKabuterimon asked Angewoman, as he joined her in her lofty seat in the sky. 

"Allow me to save you the trouble!" a voice came out, loud and terrifying, from the middle of the old mansion. As if lifted by some unseen force, Triceramon appeared to levitate in midair, and then come flying back through the mansion's outer walls, creating yet another hole. Triceramon slammed headfirst into the ground, and slowly got up and stared back at the old mansion. 

"My Lord Kronosmon, I am—"

"Silence! Fool! You cannot even handle a group of upstart Digidestined and their fool Digimon!" There was a blur in the air, a kind of black distortion, next to Triceramon, who had gone rigid, and another Digimon popped into view. He was short, only five feet high, but appeared to be constructed out of a clock. The numbers on the face were twisted and black, and the hands were a twisted mess. His eyes blazed out from either side of the '12', and his actual hands sprouted out from the sides of numbers '3' and '9'. 

"I have no use for fools like you! Hand of Time!" He thrust out his hand, glowing with a charcoal black light, and it appeared to shoot out a beam that ripped apart the very fabric of the air around them. Triceramon screamed, energy exploded from within him, and in seconds, he was gone, reduced to a small, black Digi Egg. 

Kronosmon picked up the egg and placed it in an unseen pocket without a second thought. He then turned to look at Angewoman and MegaKabuterimon, both hovering overhead. "Do you fools actually think to beat me? Give it a go, then, if you must." Although his voice was thick and hard, there was a hint of British to it. 

"Horn Buster!" 

"Celestial Arrow!" 

Both attacks streamed straight for Kronosmon, but he ignored them. "You have resiliency, I'll give you that much! Hand of Time!" The same evil beam of energy lanced out, engulfing MegaKabuterimon and Angewoman as one. They cried out, and dropped lifeless to the ground. Their internal energies burst out from within them, and they devolved to their In-Training states of Motimon and Nyaromon. 

As the in-training Digimon scurried back to their humans, Tai stepped angrily out of hiding. "You just made a serious mistake, Time-head! Agumon!" Agumon came running out of hiding, and leapt into the energy steam pouring out of Tai's Digivice. 

"Agumon warp Digivolved to . . . . . WarGreymon!" 

The armored, Mega form of Agumon stood tall as he faced off with Kronosmon, one of the Dark Alliance. Tai ran back to where the others were still hiding and watching. "Biyo, get ready to warp Digivolve." Sora warned. 

"Take care of him, Tai." Kari said, as she cuddled Nyaromon. 

"Terra Force!" WarGreymon turned into a spinning top, so he became nothing but a red blur, and then launched himself out at Kronosmon, horizontally, claws first. 

He slammed into Kronosmon, knocking him back the into the old mansion, through one of the holes that Triceramon had created. He actually laughed as he climbed to his feet. "Is that the best you have? Hand of Time!" The black beam launched straight for WarGreymon, but he swung out his armored claws, knocking the blast away. 

"Impressive." Kronosmon laughed, as he came towards WarGreymon. "But I'm afraid your time is up. Spinning Gears!" The entire front of the clock face slit open down the middle and opened outward, revealing a black void within. Three large, black shining gears flew out of the black abyss and came hurtling at WarGreymon. He managed to knock two of them off course, but the third caught him solidly in the chest, knocking him back several feet. 

"Biyo—" Sora began, but Biyomon was already getting airborne. 

"Biyomon warp Digivolved to . . . . Phoenixmon!" The huge bird shot out through a narrow opening in the boughs of the trees, no even pausing as she sent a shower of snapped branches raining down upon the ground. 

"Beak of Power!" She shot down, straight for Kronosmon, her beak shining like a beacon of celestial light. The impact knocked Kronosmon back, and as he slammed into the ground, he dug a furrow into it. He climbed out of it, laughing still to himself. He limped towards them, and—

"Nova Force!" WarGreymon generated a huge red ball of energy easily as big as he was, and sent it flying straight for Kronosmon. He was knocked back yet again, and when he landed, he was singed and smoking. He climbed slowly to his feet, still laughing. 

"What's so funny, Time-head?" WarGreymon growled from under his armor. 

"Fools! I control time totally!" he laughed out loud. "Time Warp!" A blackness seemed to leap from his clenched fists and encircle him. To the others, it appeared that he dulled, faded almost to invisibility, but then came back, and when he did, all signs of any kind of battle were gone. 

Izzy, who had brought up a picture of Kronosmon on his computer screen said, "He's right! Whatever damage WarGreymon and Phoenixmon do to him, he'll just reverse time as if it had never happened!" Tai scowled, but said nothing as he turned back to the battle. 

"Spinning Gears!" His clock-face opened yet again, and six spinning black circles of dark light erupted from the black void within, and shot straight for the two defending Megas. 

WarGreymon tried to block again, but the full force of the spinning gears slammed into him, knocking him clear through a tall thick tree that appeared to be an oak. He landed several feet on the other side, and struggled to get up. Tai was about to run to help him, but Sora held him back. 

Phoenixmon managed to dodge the spinning gears, but could not counter-attack, as Kronosmon had launched yet another volley of the spinning gears. 

"Giga Cannon!" a large yellow ball of energy high over from the other side of the mansion and slammed into the spinning gears, turning them into dust. 

All the Digidestined did a double-take. They had heard and seen that attack before, but the evil Digimon that had that attack was destroyed long ago!

"That sounds like—" Kari started, but they all finished at the same time, "Machinedramon!" 

Indeed it was Machinedramon, one of the Dark Masters who they thought had been defeated before the time that came to be known as 'The Fall of the Dark Masters,' when Piedmon had been defeated by the might of MagnaAngemon, with the help of WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon. 

There was a low rush of powerful engines, as Machinedramon touched down, with the aid of rockets build into his feet and back, very close to where WarGreymon and Phoenixmon now were. He turned to look at the other two good Megas, twisting his metal, snakelike head around and stared at them with all the expression a robot can have. "You aren't the ones I have come to destroy," he said, in a deep yet monochromatic voice. 

"Hmmm. Machinedramon. One of the Dark Master fools, I believe." Kronosmon said. "No matter. Even if all the Dark Masters were here, you would still fall before me! Hand of Time!" the black attack sprung forth, but before anyone could react—

"Trump Sword!" Three small, expertly thrown swords flew out of nowhere, slamming into his attack and causing it to dissipate almost in the same instant. 

"What?" Kronosmon looked in the direction that the swords had come from, which appeared to be from the heart of the mansion. A low, sinister laugh erupted from the darkness inside, one that was all too familiar to the Digidestined. 

"Isn't that—" Sora started.

"Piedmon." Tai muttered, gritting his teeth so hard he thought they would crack.

The tall, brightly clothed clown Digimon, the most powerful and deadly of all the Dark Masters, and up until the arrival of the Dark Alliance, the most powerful Mega Digimon in the Digiworld, stepped out from the mansion. His wide shoulders were slumped, his head slightly down, and he stared directly at Kronosmon, his eyes like twin beacons of piercing evil that could not be ignored or diverted. He laughed again, between his clenched teeth, sounding almost like a mad clown. Kronosmon, in spite of himself, took a few steps back, and avoided looking directly at the on coming Dark Master.

"Two of the Dark Masters. This will be even easier." Kronosmon said, careful not to allow any of his doubt show in his voice.

"Dragon Fire!" Machinedramon raised up one of his metallic arms, and an explosion of energy erupted from it, engulfing Kronosmon, throwing him back. 

"As much as if pains me to do this," Piedmon said, as he turned to WarGreymon and Phoenixmon, "Let's wrap this up quick in a nice package deal." He turned back to Kronosmon and fluidly drawing his swords, threw them straight at Kronosmon. "Trump Sword!" 

"Spinning Gears!" Three gears erupted from the inside of Kronosmon, destroying each of the three swords as they hit. 

Tai glanced sidelong at Sora. "Should we trust them?" She smiled back, leaned forward, and kissed him lightly. "For now."

"Nova Force!" WarGreymon, having reached full strength again after a short rest, generated yet another vast sphere of reddish energy, and lobbed it overhand at Kronosmon, like an overhead pass. 

"Hand of Time!" The black energies erupted from Kronosmon, and slammed into the ball of energy, causing both energy projectiles to vanish upon impact. 

"I grow tired of your performance, Kronosmon!" Piedmon said. "Clown Trick!" he gestured outwards from the ground, causing rocks to rise up from the ground and slam repeatedly into Kronosmon, forcing him back. 

"Giga Cannon!" Repeating bursts of energy slammed into Kronosmon, sending him to his knees. He rose, and laughed at them all.

"Think I'm a clown?" Piedmon demanded. Who was this Digimon to laugh at the most powerful of all of the Dark Masters? "Clown Trick!" he extended his right hand, and a powerful, concentrated burst of solidified wind energy slammed into Kronosmon. He staggered around a bit, but still did not fall. Instead—

"Time Warp!" All of the damage that Kronosmon had taken disappeared, as the laws of physics were violated and time reversed itself.

As the seemingly endless battle toiled on further around them, Izzy sat at his computer, typing fast and thinking faster. He had called up MagnaAngemon's file up on the computer, and was examining the attack called 'Gate of Destiny.' Suddenly, his eyes lit up. "Of course! The Gate of Destiny did not destroy Piedmon, only imprisoned him! So when the Digiworld reconfigured itself, he was released, and the other Dark Masters were re-created!" In his excitement, he did not notice his crest glowing with celestial light, nor did the small pink Digimon at his shoulder. The energies from the Digivice overflowed their cache, like an river overflowing it's banks, and the energy washed over Motimon. 

"Motimon Digivolved to . . . . Tentomon."

The surge of power became even stronger, and the energy hit Tentomon like a shot.

"Tentomon warp Digivolved to . . . . HerculesKabuterimon!" 

HerculesKabuterimon stood, a tall yellow Hercules beetle with red slashes on his body. He had a pair of huge mandibles on his head, two wings, two stout legs, and four arms.

"Prodigious!" Izzy exclaimed, as HerculesKabuterimon's picture appeared on his computer screen. "Tentomon's Mega form!" 

HerculesKabuterimon leapt up into the air, on wings that looked far too small and frail to lift anything of his size, and slashed clean through a tree with one snap of his mandibles, and flew up high into the sky.

The other Mega Digimon heard the commotion that HerculesKabuterimon's giant wings made, and they looked up. "Another Mega Digimon? It appears that there are far too many of those in this accursed Digiworld!" Kronosmon said. "I've had just about enough of this. Hand of Time!" he shot out yet another of his black attacks, and it lanced straight for Phoenixmon. Since she had only just reached Mega level and was not experienced, the attack hit her, she grew dark, and then devolved back to Biyomon. 

"Biyomon!" Sora yelled, as she jumped to her feet and ran out into the battlefield to help her friend. 

"Spinning Gears!" Three spinning black disc-shaped gears erupted from the inside of Kronosmon and shot straight for Sora, who was knelt over her down Digimon.

WarGreymon leapt, and just managed to get in front of Sora, taking the full force of the attack that was meant for her. He was thrown at least a dozen yards, and when he tried to get up, he was bathed in a sickly yellow light and devolved to Agumon, who lay there groaning like he had eaten too much. 

As Tai and Sora ran back into the relative safety of the woods, helping their injured Digimon, Piedmon turned again back to the still outnumbered Kronosmon. "As much as I would like to commemorate you for such a deed, you have tried to take over this world which was once rightfully mine! Trump Sword!" Three swords were thrown, and slammed into Kronosmon, rocking him back.

"Giga Cannon!" Repeat explosions of energy projectiles slammed into Kronosmon, pounding into the ground. He rose up—

"Time Warp!" All the damage that he had taken instantly vanished.

"Your time traveling days are over!" HerculesKabuterimon announced in an odd voice that had a hollow echo to it, as if someone speaking through a can. He shot down from his seat in the sky, his wings creating winds more powerful than most helicopters. 

"Spinning Gears!" the black gears flew like arrows from an archer's bow, and slammed full-force into HerculesKabuterimon, but he appeared not to feel the blow.

"Giga Scissor Claw!" 

HerculesKabuterimon's large, razor sharp mandibles, glowing with an eerie yellow light, slashed out at Kronosmon several times in rapid succession, each snap of the glowing mandibles cutting into Kronosmon yet again, until he was lacerated all over with glowing slashes. 

Kronosmon gasped and tried to move, but when he did, his body appeared to literally slide and phase apart at the glowing lacerations, and each part dissolve into nothing. He let out a last yell of enraged surprised, and the last part of his sliced and diced body dissolved into nothingness. 

HerculesKabuterimon then set down firmly on the ground and looked at Piedmon and Machinedramon expectantly. 

"Well, there's something you don't see everyday." Piedmon said. 

Tai, Izzy, Sora, and Kari came running out of the forest with their Digimon. "What do you want, Piedmon?" Tai asked. Agumon stood, ready to warp Digivolve at moment's notice. 

Piedmon laughed to himself when he looked at these children challenging him, yet he remembered the humiliating defeat he had suffered at their hands. "I have come to reclaim what was mine before you—" he stopped, before he would get too angry, and change his mind. He was going to enlist the help of the Digidestined, and once the Dark Alliance was overthrown, he would personally destroy the Digidestined once and for all.

"The Digiworld was never yours!" Tai said. 

"Foolish little Digidestined. Do you think Gennai will allow you to rule the Digiworld? Once the Dark Alliance is gone, he will rule it, and have no further use for you or your Digimon, and so get rid of you."

Tai stopped. He had never thought of what would happen if they defeated the Dark Alliance.

"Tai, don't listen to him!" Sora yelled.

"Afraid of the truth, little girl?" Piedmon laughed. He had detected the doubt in Sora's mind, and knew his plan would work. Little children are so naïve, they believe anything you tell them. "Ask Gennai if you don't believe me! If you help me defeat the Dark Alliance, I will split the Digiworld in half. One half will be controlled by the Dark Masters, while the other will be left alone. Is it a deal?" he asked, sticking out his right hand. 

Tai glanced at the others. It appeared that they were unsure of what to do, and Tai reasoned that they needed all the help they could get, and if this turned out to be a trick, they could just have MagnaAngemon defeat him again. Still, this would be like dealing with the devil, or playing Russian Roulette. They would have to keep an eye on the Dark Masters from now on. Tai gingerly stuck out his hand and shook with Piedmon.

"Well, what are we going to do now?" Sora asked. She kept her eyes on Tai, but it was obvious there was no way she would ever trust Piedmon. They might be temporary allies, but it was truly a dark Alliance, one that was never made to be, regardless of the situation.

__

Over a dozen miles away . . . .

The other four Digidestined had at last reached Phobiamon's hideout, with turned out to be a large cave, blacker than black, even in the beginning of the cave. T.K. had brought along a small plastic flashlight that he had gotten as a trinket in a box of cereal, and that gave off a little light, reduced even more in the unnatural darkness. 

In the darkness, Mimi shivered, but not because of the cold. This is an ideal place for a creep like Phobiamon, she thought, as the group trudged on a narrow, rocky path which seemed to get darker and more foreboding with every passing moment. She wished she had never heard about Digimon, had never gone on that stupid summer camp. She wanted to be in the warm sunshine on the beach. She wanted to be shopping in the wonderfully air conditioned mall, but instead she was here, trudging through some dark, smelly cave—She got so mad she wanted to kick something, but the only thing available was the solid rock wall on either side, and she would only hurt her foot in the process, and end up getting even angrier. 

The others were feeling much of the same way. The darkness and chill were certainly not helping their moods along in any way, and the fact that they were going on to meet what could be their destruction was also hovering over their heads like a two ton weight on a tiny thread, ready to snap at any moment. 

They traveled along like this for what seemed like hours to them, but in reality it was only ten minutes, when Matt, who was at the head of the line, stopped suddenly, causing Gabumon, who had the vision of candy dancing in his head, to almost bump into him. He strained his eyes in the weak light, shining the small light from the plastic flashlight as well as he could. 

He turned back to the others, and spoke in a whisper. "I think we've come into some kind of large cavern."

"Well, what do we do now?" Mimi asked, her voice barely a whisper.

There was a sudden high pitched laughter overhead, as lights suddenly snapped on. They recoiled from the sudden explosion of light, and when they could see, it appeared that they were in a large rocky cavern, with large torches set in brackets on the walls every few feet. 

They looked up to where the light had come from, and saw Phobiamon, standing there atop a large, narrow rock platform, holding his misshapen staff and grinning madly down at them. "Why it's the Digidestined brats!" he said in a high pitched whine, sounding like a little kid. "So you have found my little hidey-hole. Goodie! Now we can have all sorts of fun before I destroy you all!" his wild, crazy voice had the distinction of Cockney to it. 

"We don't want to play around with you!" Matt yelled. "Gabumon!" he held out his Digivice over his friend. 

"Gabumon warp Digivolved to . . . . MetalGarurumon!" The cybernetic wolf stood looking up at the wildly smirking Phobiamon, growling loudly. 

"Come on MetalGarurumon, don't be a stick in the mud! Play with your old friend Phobiamon! Crazy Punch!" A bolt of strange red and black energy leapt from his outstretched hand, and slammed into MetalGarurumon, knocking him back. 

"C'mon guys!" Gomamon yelled. "Gomamon Digivolved to . . . Ikkakumon! Ikkakumon Digivolved to . . . . Zudomon!" 

"Palmon Digivolved to . . . . Togemon! Togemon Digivolved to . . . . Lillymon!" 

"So you want to play too?" Phobiamon asked. "Then join us! Crazy Punch!" The attack slammed into the two Ultimates, knocking them far back into the cavern wall. 

"Ice Wolf Claw!" Small hatches opened along MetalGarurumon's cybernetic body and each launched a small missile. These missiles streaked straight for Phobiamon. With a swipe of his odd staff, he knocked them off course, and instead them slammed into the wall behind him, covering the entire wall in a thin layer of ice. "Nope! Try again!" Phobiamon laughed. 

"Vulcan's Hammer!"

"Flower Cannon!" 

These attacks slammed into Phobiamon, but he totally ignored them. "You're no fun! Only Mega Digimon are fun! Pantaphobia!" He spun his staff over his head, generating incredible energy with each spin. Twin beams of energy finally lanced out, each slamming into Zudomon and Lillymon, causing them to devolve. 

T.K. watched as Phobiamon slam MetalGarurumon against the wall again, his wild laughter echoing several times off the walls. Joe and Mimi ran to their fallen Digimon and helped them up. T.K. looked at Patamon sitting on his head, and said, "Patamon, they need your help. They need Angemon!" 

"Right!" Patamon lifted off from T.K.'s head, flapping his wings. 

"Patamon Digivolved to . . . . Angemon!" 

Phobiamon barely glanced at the shimmering angel hovering overhead. "Big deal. An overstuffed toy with wings. What can he do?" 

"Hand of Fate!" The incredible golden energy attack lanced from Angemon's outstretched fist, and slammed into Phobiamon with an unregistered amount of force. Phobiamon barely felt the attack. "I grow tired of this game," he said, and raised his staff overhead. 

"Metal Wolf Claw!" A searing stream of silver energy leapt from MetalGarurumon's gaping jaws and hit Phobiamon unawares, slamming him into the iced wall behind him. The impact created a small crater, and when he tried to climb out—

"Ice Wolf Claw!" The missiles sprang forth from their silos and slammed full force into the small crater than Phobiamon was it, freezing him to the spot. 

"All right!" Joe yelled, and he and Matt slapped five. 

"Crazy Punch!" 

A burst of energy shattered the casing of ice from within, and Phobiamon jumped out and faced them, all folly gone from his face. "This game has gone on long enough! Pantaphobia!" His spinning staff once more generated incredible energies, which forced MetalGarurumon and Angemon to devolve to their Rookie forms. 

"Actually, I think I'm going to like this little game." Phobiamon said, as he came slowly and menacingly towards them. "Riddle me this. What will happen to the Digidestined once their Digimon have been defeated?" he raised his strange black staff overhead and grinned wildly. "You'll find out shortly." The staff came swiping down, generating a surge of energy as it swung towards them. It looked like the end for—

"Puppet Power!" An 'X' shaped hunk of wood came spinning out of nowhere and slammed into the staff as it came down, knocking it out of Phobiamon's grasp. 

"What have we here?" Phobiamon said, as he reached for his staff. "More playmates? Come out now and make your destruction fast and painful!" 

A figure came slowly from the depths of the shadows into the torch light, but even before he did, the Digidestined knew who it was. Matt, of all of them, knew this Digimon all too well; it was because of him that Matt had left his friends before. Matt had defeated this Digimon with MetalGarurumon's help, but the images of this Digimon still haunted him.

"Puppetmon!" T.K. and Joe gasped. 

"The Digidestined are my playmates, Phobiamon. You can't touch them." Puppetmon said, sounding like an upset five year old. The small wooden puppet Digimon, one of the Dark Masters, stepped fully into the light and glared at Phobiamon under his red cap. 

"One of the fool Dark Masters! Lord Eldritchmon will be pleased to hear that you are destroyed forever!" Phobiamon said. "Crazy Punch!" 

"Puppet Power!" Puppetmon swung his large metal hammer and deflected the energy blast off of it. "Nobody toys with me!" He tried to control Phobiamon like a marionette, but found that for some strange reason he could not.

"Is that the best you have you little wooden fool?" Phobiamon laughed. "Sense Crusher!" To his dismay, he found that this attack also had no effect on Puppetmon, for a reason that he could not discover. Actually, had they stopped and thought about it, they were both Digimon whose powers focused mainly on mentally affecting or controlling others, so their attacks would not work for this reason. 

"Maybe I can't defeat you," Puppetmon said, "But I know someone who can!" He stuck two wooden fingers in his wooden mouth and blew a piercing blast that sounded like a wooden flute.

"Call in all the reinforcements you want!" Phobiamon laughed at the small Digimon at his feet. 

"Rrrrrreeeeeaaaggghhh!" Something growled very loudly out of the shadows in the far corner of the cavern. Even before the growl had finished echoing, all the Digidestined knew who it was. 

"MetalSeadramon!" they said as one, as the huge, long metallic sea snake appeared to hover, in a coiled up position, into the light. He was at least fifty feet long if he was an inch, and his enormous jaws were another six feet besides. This had been the first of the Dark Masters that the Digidestined had encountered and beaten, thanks largely to the bravery of Whamon, who MetalSeadramon mortally wounded before WarGreymon finished him. 

"You're outnumbered here Phobiamon!" MetalSeadramon said in his craggy voice which sounded much like a barroom roughneck. 

"That may be so, but you still won't win! Crazy Punch!" He shot a large energy blast for MetalSeadramon. MetalSeadramon instead reared up to half his height, towering over Phobiamon, and energy seemed to gather within a large cannon-like apparatus where his nose would be. 

"River of Power!" 

A bright blue enormously powerful beam of energy shot out of that apparatus, vaporizing Phobiamon's attack and would have slammed into Phobiamon had he not swung out with his staff, totally deflecting the attack. 

"It appears your bark is worse than your bite, fish boy. Sense Crusher!" he brought his staff swinging downwards in a shower of energy. MetalSeadramon recoiled back, surprised at the power of the attack. He blinked, and found that his vision had been cut in half, so he could only see blurred objects. 

"Is that all you have? Cheap mind tricks?" he laughed, but was really annoyed that this weak Digimon had such power over him. 

"Although we've all had fun, it's time to bring an end to this little game!" Phobiamon said. He whirled his staff overhead and slammed it downwards. "Pantaphobia!" the explosion of energy actually threw the enormous MetalSeadramon clear across the large cavern, and slammed the much smaller Puppetmon into the far wall, not without much pain.

With Phobiamon's crazy laughter ringing in her ears as he advanced upon the seemingly doomed Digidestined, Mimi bowed her head and shut her eyes tight. Oh no, She thought. He will destroy us all, and the Digiworld will truly be gone! What can I do? What? 

Two tears escaped from under her eyelids, even though she had commanded herself not to cry, but evidently her tear ducts had not heard the command in time. These tears traveled unmarked down her face and dripped off, landing on the surface of her silent crest. At first, nothing happened, but then a faint glimmer of light could be seen in her Crest of Sincerity, glowing stronger with every passing second. Palmon, who was comforting her friend, did not notice it, nor did any of the others. Phobiamon was too absorbed in his own cleverness and power to notice anything but the destruction of both the Digidestined and the Dark Masters. 

Just as her tears had struck the crest, energy from her glowing crest fell slowly, like teardrops, onto Palmon, who still did not take notice. The drops came faster and faster, until—

"Palmon warp Digivolved to . . . . FloraLillymon!"

FloraLillymon stood, easily as tall as Phobiamon did. She appeared to be a sort of wood nymph, a beautiful maiden carved completely out of wood, almost as if she was planted as like that. She had a long braid of golden hair which flowed down her neck like a river of gold, and seemed to go just right with the hues of her wood, which looked like it was the best quality available. 

She looks almost like an Ent, Joe thought. He had read The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and there was a race that seemed to be made of trees that fit FloraLillymon's description very well. 

"What's this?" Phobiamon asked, eyeing FloraLillymon standing before him with evident distaste. "Another Mega Digimon? No matter. You will fall as the rest did! Crazy Punch!" the blast of energy flew for FloraLillymon, but she dodged with nimble grace. 

"It's time someone cut into your play time, Phobiamon," she said. Her voice was high and sweet, and one could listen to it for hours without tiring of it. 

"That's FloraLillymon!" Gomamon said to the other Digidestined. "She's the Mega form of Palmon, and is the queen of the forest. She may look pretty, but her 'Petal Storm,' attack is devastating!" 

"Forest Strike!" She threw her arms over her head almost gracefully, as in slow motion, it appeared that entire trees appeared in the air above her, and one by one slammed into Phobiamon like a battering ram, each one slamming him back farther than the one before it. 

When he had his back to the wall, he grimaced. "I've had enough of this game! Time to join your friends! Panta—" he prepared to bring his staff down, but FloraLillymon stopped him in mid-word.

"Petal Storm!" To the onlookers it appeared that she levitated into the air. She glowed with an incalculable amount of energy, as perfectly formed pink flower petals appeared in the air around her. She then brought her long arms rapidly together in front of her, and the petals that were shimmering like silk around her spun like throwing stars and whizzed straight for Phobiamon, who could not get out of the way in time.

These that went first slammed him into the wall and totally pinned him there so he could not move. Then FloraLillymon gestured again, even more pink petals appeared, and these glowed even brighter than their predecessors. They shot straight at the pinned Phobiamon, almost faster than the eye could follow. 

These petals slammed into Phobiamon with almost unimaginable force for things of their size, and Phobiamon was surrounded by a pink aura, as the petals slammed into him again and again. With one final burst of reddish light, he gave one last maniacal laugh, and dissolved totally, until the pink petals were the only thing left to show where he had been defeated. 

At once the petals disappeared as well, fading in almost an instant. FloraLillymon devolved as well, shrinking back to her Palmon stage. As Mimi, Joe, and T.K. ran to congratulate Palmon, Matt and Gabumon stood rigid, glaring at Puppetmon and MetalSeadramon, who had regained their composure and stood in the shallow shadows. 

"What do you want, Puppetmon?" Matt asked, slanting his eyes upon the small Digimon.

"We want you as our friends! The Dark Alliance is trying to take over the Digiworld, and Piedmon instructed us to find allies."

"Yeah, we help you defeat the Dark Alliance, and then you take over? I don't think so. Forget it." he whirled around and began to look for another exit, when MetalSeadramon spoke. "Do you Digidestined think you can defeat the Dark Alliance by yourselves?"

"We defeated you, didn't we?" Joe said.

"That's besides the point. Without allies, you won't stand a chance. They'll take you apart like a cheap watch." 

"We defeated Phobiamon, didn't we?" Mimi yelled. 

"He was the warm up for the Eldritchmon. Face it, you think you're good, you're nothing compared to him. You need help." 

Matt grimaced and made a fist. He would not help the Dark Masters reclaim the Digiworld for themselves, but what if MetalSeadramon was right? What if they actually needed the Dark Masters to defeat Eldritchmon? Slowly, he lowered his fist and then turned to face the two Dark Masters. 

"OK. We'll join you . . . for now." He let the ending hang as a threat in which he did not know if he could fulfill or not. "Do you know another way out of here?" 

"But of course." Puppetmon gestured to MetalSeadramon, who reared up and slammed into the rock face opposite the way that the Digidestined had come in, and punched a large hole in it, revealing the outside world. The sun streamed into the relatively dark cavern, causing them to shield their eyes until they got used to the bright sunlight. 

There was the large, expansive field in front of them. The two Dark Masters passed out into the outside world from the hole in the wall, not even noticing the way that the four Digidestined were hanging back, watching them warily. 

After some help from Palmon's Poison Ivy, they managed to reach the hole in the wall and jump down to the green grass below. "Remember," Matt said quietly. "We don't know if this is a trick or not. We've got to be careful." The Digidestined then ran to catch up with their temporary allies. 

__

In a previously unknown place, at an immeasurable distance . . . . 

Eldritchmon was not in a good mood. Already, two of the Dark Alliance had fallen to the might of the Digidestined, and the Dark Masters had resurfaced. True, the members of the Dark Alliance that had been destroyed were the weaker of the five, and the three most powerful still were at the ready. 

"My Lord Eldritchmon?" A high-pitched voice came up from behind him. "The Dark Masters have agreed to an alliance with the Digidestined."

Eldritchmon wearily turned, and stared down at the small Digimon. "What of it, Photomon? Even if they manage to make it this far, you know how to deal with them." 

"I do." Photomon's eyes gleamed, as he left his lord to his dark thoughts. 

Eldritchmon smiled. Let the Digidestined come. He would be ready. Let them gather all the allies they wanted, it would make no difference to him. He had the power, and they did not. Let them come, he would be more than ready . . . . . . .


	5. Default Chapter Title

__

Back to the Digidestined, across an immeasurable distance . . . 

The Digidestined were reunited once more, in the large, grassy field that linked the two Dark Alliance's hideouts. They were unusually quiet after their rather large battles, which was uncharacteristic for them. Perhaps they did not fully trust the four Mega Digimon who stood in a group off to the side that had once made up their deadliest enemies. 

Sora and Tai were once again holding hands, both because they were unsure of what else to do. The other Digidestined appeared almost indifferent to each other, almost aloof. 

"Tai, do you think it's wise to join sides with the Dark Masters? Unless you've forgotten, they're the bad guys!" Izzy said over his shoulder, as he worked away at some sort of program on his computer. 

"They may be the key to help us beat Eldritchmon." Tai said, sounding almost uncertain of himself. "We need firepower, and we know they have plenty of that."

"Yeah and evil and cruelty, and the list goes on and on." Matt said. "We beat them, so the rest of the Dark Alliance can't be that hard!" 

"Perhaps you need an epiphany." Piedmon said. He sauntered over to the group of Digidestined, trying to hide his scorn of working with them. "We have fought the Dark Alliance already, and I am sad to say that they performed far better than we did. I am not even sure if combined we can beat the remaining Dark Alliance."

"They have three. We have what, twelve?" Matt demanded. 

Piedmon smiled to himself. This overconfident fool may be the downfall to us all. "Do you have any idea of how powerful Eldritchmon is by himself? I personally took him on, and he out performed me even as the fight started."

Matt looked like he was going to make another snide remark, but Mimi kicked him suddenly, and he fell silent. 

Piedmon strode back to where the other Dark Masters were, muttering to himself. 

"I don't trust him." Sora said, watching the head of the Dark Masters warily. 

"Neither do I." Tai admitted, "But what else can we do? Even Gennai warned us about the Dark Alliance and how strong they were." 

All the Digidestined fell silent after this, and night soon fell. They slept on the ground, as they were accustomed to doing. They stayed within close proximity of each other, and did not venture to glimpse upon what the Dark Masters were doing. 

In the darkest hour in the night, perhaps only a few hours before the sun would be peeking out from over the horizon, the air suddenly grew chill, as a section of the very darkness of night twisted and warped, until Musyamon stood drifting only a few feet in front of the sleeping children. He glanced down upon them, almost indifferent, and then looked over at the Dark Masters, perhaps no more than ten yards away to one side. He then extended his right hand over the group of the sleeping Digidestined, and murmured something. A dark, chill light appeared to encircle Tai, Sora, and T.K, along with their appropriate Digimon and their unconscious bodies levitated, shimmered, and then vanished. 

Musyamon turned to leave, but then a cool, chill voice stopped him in his tracks. "What do you think you're doing, Musyamon?" 

Musyamon searched for the voice, and found it, floating in a curled up position above his head. MetalSeadramon stood, glaring at the smaller member of the Dark Alliance. "You're outnumbered, Musyamon."

"That may be so," Musyamon said, his voice sounding strangely calming and serene, "But you are out of your league when you deal with the Dark Alliance. Mega Blade!" Drawing his strangely shimmering black blade in one smooth motion, Musyamon sent a powerful arc of energy slamming into MetalSeadramon, causing him to fall from his lofty seat. 

"River of Power!" Incredible energies lanced straight from MetalSeadramon to Musyamon, but Musyamon swung, with his curved blade glittering, and sliced MetalSeadramon's attack in two. 

"Giga Cannon!" two explosions of energy slammed into Musyamon, catching him unawares, slamming him into the ground. 

"Tai?" Kari asked sleepily. She had been leaning against her brother while she slept, and now he was gone. She looked up, and to her horror saw one of those horrible Dark Alliance fighting with MetalSeadramon and Machinedramon. "Gatomon! Wake up!" She shook the small sleeping cat Digimon at her side. 

"Gatomon Digivolved to . . . Angewoman!" 

"T.K!! T.K. where are you!" Matt was wide awake in a split second, upon hearing Kari's scream. 

"What's going on? Is there a sale at the shoe store?" Mimi asked sleepily, as she sat up. 

"Gabumon digivolved to . . . . Garurumon!" 

__

In a previously unknown place, at an immeasurable distance . . . . 

Sora's eyes slowly fluttered open, and she stared up at the rough stone ceiling high over her head in confusion for several moments. She sat up suddenly, and looked around. She appeared to be in some vast stone chamber, empty of everything except herself and Tai and T.K., who were at her side, still sleeping. 

"Tai! Something's wrong!" Sora whispered, fighting to keep the panic from her voice as she shook Tai. He fell from his sleep slowly, and it seemed to Sora that she had been shaking him forever before he woke up. Once he had taken in the situation, he leapt to his feet while Sora woke T.K. 

"Agumon, where are we?" Tai asked, glancing down at the small dinosaur Digimon at his side. 

"I thought you might know, Tai. I've never even heard of a place like this on the Digiworld."

"That is because it is not on the Digiworld." A low chill voice appeared to ripple through the air, one that shook the Digidestined to their very bones. The air in front of them shimmered, thickened, and Eldritchmon stood suddenly before them. 

"Eldritchmon." Tai barely breathed. Agumon grimaced, but glared at the leader of the Dark Alliance. 

"While we are waiting for your friends to rescue you, I might as well tell you where you are. Sit, if you will." 

Almost against his will, Tai sat down on the cold stone floor, followed by the others, almost in a trance. Tai glanced at Sora, and saw that she was not impressed at all with Eldritchmon, but T.K. was staring mesmerized at Eldritchmon.

"This immense castle is not on the Digital World. It is, in fact, in the Digital World. As you know, everything about the Digital World is created from computer coding. Well, this castle sits not in that coding, but in a physical level above it. It is the only real thing on the Digital World, and because of that, only things that I allow may see the castle. In effect, I am a real being, not restricted by the ridiculous rules and barriers of the primitive computer coding spectrum, so I cannot be defeated by regular Digimon and their pitiful computer based attacks."

"So then why do you need the Dark Alliance?" Sora asked.

"I only expected them to hinder you long enough so that I may learn of your strengths and weaknesses. They have done that, the two simpering fools you have defeated, and the others, I expect, will fall before the combined power of the Digidestined and the Dark Masters before long, but in the process, you will be weakened, and ever so more easy for me to defeat." 

"So how are our friends going to find us?" 

"Musyamon will take care of that."

"We'll—" Tai rose up, defiant, but then shrank down as Eldritchmon's words hit home.

"You'll defeat me? I think not. Your leader, Gennai, is a prime example of the pitiful weakness of the computer coding. Once he was great and strong, one of the strongest in all the Digital World, but he was broken slowly in time by Piedmon and others much more darker and powerful then he, until he is no more than what he appears to be: a weak old man. He lost the cards to your world, and those cards were passed on to Myotismon." 

"Why do you think you can—" 

"Enough questions for now. It's time for your long anticipated and much deserved destruction." Eldritchmon smiled evilly down at the Digidestined as he appeared to grow before their very eyes. 

"I don't think so Mr. Magic! Agumon!" Tai held out his energy spewing Digivice. 

"Agumon Warp Digivolved to . . . . WarGreymon!" 

"Biyomon Warp Digivolved to . . . . Phoenixmon!" 

"Patamon Digivolved to . . . . Angemon!" 

"Terra Force!" Placing his two large sets of claws above his head, WarGreymon began to spin horizontally around and around like a top, until he was nothing more than a red and orange blur, and launched himself straight for Eldritchmon.

"Wall of Darkness!" Eldritchmon placed his hands out before him, palms facing outward, and the very air in front of him appeared to freeze, harden, and grow black as coal. WarGreymon, instead of slamming into Eldritchmon, now disappeared into the blackness. He appeared to be sucked into the endless void, but then tumbled out a few seconds later. 

"Hand of Fate!" Brilliant celestial energy, super nova-white, exploded from Angemon's fist and streaked straight for Eldritchmon. He took the blow head on, without much interest, and grinned almost madly. He swung out with his staff, leveling the head out towards Angemon—

"Magical Force!" An explosion of dark magical energy lanced from the staff's head and slammed into Angemon, dropping him to the stone floor like a dropped safe. 

"Angemon!" T.K. ran over to his fallen friend. 

"Crimson Flame!" Phoenixmon flared, banked, climbed high, and then stopped in midair. She appeared to twirl rapidly in midair, wings outstretched, and a large diamond shaped ball of fire energy shot out from her and shot straight for Eldrtichmon. He took the hit, and appeared to blink, and stopped himself from taking a step backwards, but that was about it. 

"Nova Force!" WarGreymon once more leapt into the air, generated a vast ball of red energy between his outstretched arms and threw it straight for Eldritchmon. He dodged the attack, and it slammed into the wall behind him, appearing the shake the entire room. 

"Magical Force!" An explosion of magical energy flew from his staff, slamming both WarGreymon and Phoenixmon into the far wall. 

"Phoenixmon!" Sora cried out for her friend. "Tai, how can we beat Eldritchmon?"

"We beat Apoclyamon, didn't we?" Tai asked, sounding almost as if he was trying to encourage himself. 

"We can't give up hope!" T.K. yelled out, as Angemon steadied himself on his feet. T.K.'s chest appeared to glow with fire as his crest glowed brightly. 

"Angemon Digivolved to . . . . MagnaAngemon." 

Eldritchmon appeared almost amused as he watched MagnaAngemon slowly advance upon him. He raised his staff, almost dripping with contempt. 

"Magical Force!" 

"Gate of Destiny!" MagnaAngemon clove a large circle in the air with Xcaliber, his energy sword, and this circle appeared to create a spinning, shiny golden disc. The disc spun once, and split open down the center, revealing a glowing, celestial, vast inside. The energies of Eldritchmon's attack slammed into the inside of the circle, and the disc snapped closed, disappearing as it went. MagnaAngemon stood tall behind it, but the strain of absorbing Eldritchmon's attack was evident. 

"Impressive, for back-washed simple minded computer coded fools. I can see why you defeated the Dark Master fools." Eldritchmon said quietly. "Unfortunately, it is not impressive enough. Magical Force!" The energies slammed head on into MagnaAngemon, who was not strong enough to generate another Gate of Destiny, and so was sent reeling from the blow.

"Terra Force!"

"Beak of Power!"

Both WarGreymon and Phoenixmon launched themselves straight for Eldritchmon, each brimming with enough power to easily level an entire city. 

"Wall of Darkness!" The impenetrable black fog appeared to enshroud WarGreymon and Phoenixmon as they almost reached Eldritchmon, and then the fog disappeared, taking them both with it. A second later, they appeared to fall out of the ceiling, almost phasing through it. They hit the ground like a sack of potatoes, and struggled to stand. 

"Magical Force!" The incredible dark energies flew straight for the fallen forms of WarGreymon and Phoenixmon. With a gentle rustle of pure white wings, MagnaAngemon dove and put himself between the dark energies and the two fallen Mega Digimon. He took the blow head on, and fell, devolving to Patamon as he went. Patamon tried to flap his wings, but found he was too weak to even do that, so T.K. caught him and held him close. 

"We're not done yet." WarGreymon said, as he finally managed to stand. 

"Is that a fact?" Eldritchmon laughed. "You fools were done before you started. Magic Trick!" A bubble of energy leapt from Eldritchmon's staff and slammed into WarGreymon and Phoenixmon with amazing force for something so small, and both WarGreymon and Phoenixmon shuddered and devolved to their rookie forms. 

As Tai ran to help Agumon to his feet, and saw Eldritchmon still standing over them, smirking and laughing, he wondered if this was really the end. Sora, with T.K. huddling at her waist, came running over to Tai. Sora felt for Tai's hand in the growing darkness; if they were going to go, they would go together. In her other hand, she held the weakened Biyomon close to her side. 

Eldritchmon laughed once more, a laugh full of evil and contempt, and raised his wooden staff, deep magical energies growing in the head, ready to be unleashed in a final, devastating blow. 

Musyamon appeared then, suddenly, right next to Eldritchmon. Materializing in front of Tai, Sora, T.K. and their Digimon, were the other five Digidestined and their Digimon. Already, Gabumon had warp Digivolved to MetalGarurumon, and Tentomon had warp Digivolved into HerculesKabuterimon. Seconds later, all four of the Dark Masters appeared perhaps five yards to one side. Musyamon bowed to Eldritchmon. "I have done what you bade of me, my Lord. I have led the children and their allies here." 

Eldritchmon looked furiously at Musyamon for a second, and then his expression changed to one of jovial. "Well done, Musyamon. Photomon, you may come out."

"Photomon?" Matt yelled in surprise, as he and the other Digidestined ran to help Tai, Sora, and T.K. to their feet. 

'Surprise!" the small evil Digimon that appeared to be constructed out of parts of a camera suddenly appeared on the other side of Eldritchmon, who smirked at the astonished looks of the Digidestined. 

"But we destroyed that pile of recycled scrap metal!" Joe said. He had to force himself not to hyperventilate. 

"Guess again." Photomon said in a slightly insane voice. "Giga Shocker!" A bolt of lightning streaked straight for Joe, and before Gomamon could Digivolve—

"Clown Trick!" Three concentric rings of yellow energy encircled the bolt of lightning and caused it to dissipate. "Regroup yourselves, Digidestined. We shall distract these fools who dared to try to take the Digital World from us!" Piedmon said. To prove his point, he pulled three of his swords from their sheathes and threw them straight at Musyamon. "Trump Sword!"

"Puppet Power!"

As the Dark Masters and the Dark Alliance went head to head, the Digidestined quickly formed a small circle, after Tai and Kari and Matt and T.K. were reunited. "As much as I would like to see both of these groups destroy each other," Matt said, "I think the Dark Alliance will still win, even though they are outnumbered."

"Yes. According to the information we have gathered about their strengths, it is apparent that the Dark Alliance, particularly Eldritchmon, is much stronger than the Dark Masters." Izzy said.

"Any ideas?" Joe asked, pushing up his glasses.

"We have to have the most firepower we can get." Tai said. "We have what, four Mega Digimon?"

"Five. Palmon warp-digivolved when we were fighting Phobiamon." Mimi said, smiling down at her friend. 

'Izzy, do you have idea about how we can get the other Digimon to Digivolve to Mega form?" Tai asked.

"Well, it is apparent that the process of evolving to Mega has something to do with utilizing, to the fullest extent, the namesake of their crests. For example, Tentomon warp-Digivolved when I discovered why Piedmon was still as strong as he was originally. So in order for the remaining Digimon to Digivolve to their Mega forms, their human counterparts must fulfill the ideals that their crests stand for."

"Um . . . that was kind of over my head, but I think I got it. So what you're saying is that in order for Gomamon to Digivolve, I have to do something reliable." Joe said.

"That's it." Izzy said, blushing a little at his Harvard-level vocabulary. The other Digidestined laughed at this, feeling good that they could still laugh, considering the circumstances. They then turned to see the battle unfolding between their newfound allies and the Dark Alliance. 

The Dark Alliance and the Dark Masters, it seemed, had basically traded shots without much happening, but the Dark Masters appeared more peaked then their enemies did. 

"This little bout of fisticuffs has gone on long enough. It is time to finish the Dark Masters once and for all. Photomon!" Eldritchmon snapped at the smaller Digimon at his right side.

"You got it, Lord Eldritchmon." He then appeared to glow from within with a dark light, and rapidly grew and shifted, until he was a carbon copy of WarGreymon.

"I think I know what's coming next!" Joe breathed, and the other Digidestined silently agreed. They had seen this sort of thing happen before, only it was they who were fighting the Dark Masters. 

MetalSeadramon guessed too, what Photomon's plan was, so he reared up, generating incredible energies in the cannon apparatus where his nose should be. "River of Power!" Incredible energy, condensed into a thick beam of blue light, shot from MetalSeadramon and streaked straight for Photomon, in the perfect guise of WarGreymon. 

Photomon/WarGreymon placed his claws together high above his head, fully extending his arms, and began to spin vertically like a high-speed top. "Terra Force!" he launched himself at MetalSeadramon, still spinning, and shot straight through MetalSeadramon's attack, and then right through MetalSeadramon himself like a hot knife through butter. 

"Giga Cannon!" 

Still spinning at incredibly high speeds after coming out of the other side of MetalSeadramon, Photomon/WarGreymon easily dodged Machinedramon's twin explosions of energy, and bore a hole through the middle of Machinedramon like a drill going through wood. 

As first MetalSeadramon fell to the ground and disappeared into nothingness followed by Machinedramon, Photomon/WarGreymon came out of his spin and stood facing the remaining two Dark Masters, his expression masked by WarGreymon's armor, but anyone could tell he was laughing. 

"Puppet Power!" Puppetmon threw the X-shaped piece of wood with amazing speed, and it slammed head on into Photomon, causing him to revert back to his original form. As he climbed gingerly to his feet, Puppetmon came at him, the X-shaped piece of wood in one hand, ready to be thrown again. 

"Giga Shocker!" An incredible bolt of electricity leapt from the injured Photomon, as Puppetmon threw his piece of wood as hard as he could. 

"Puppet Power!"

The bolt of lightning struck Puppetmon first, jolting him and then frying him, and finally causing him to disappear. Photomon attempted to dodge Puppetmon's attack, but he was injured, and not fast enough, so the spinning X-shaped piece of wood cleaved him cleanly in two. 

Piedmon whirled around to face the two remaining Dark Alliance, the rage clearly showing on his face. Eldritchmon gestured slightly to Musyamon, who bowed deeply and drew his black, curved blade with surprising speed. 

"Trump Sword!" Three swords flew straight for Musyamon, who deflected each one off the flat of his own sword, with a speed which defied logic. 

"Mega Blade!" The sword slashed down at Piedmon, the blade shinning with a dull black light, slamming into Piedmon, sending him reeling backwards. 

"Clown Trick!" Piedmon shot out a large burst of solidified wind energy from his outstretched hands, but Musyamon cleaved it in two with one swipe of his curved blade. 

"Ninja Star!" Musyamon gestured into the air with his left hand, and five small but deadly sharp ninja throwing stars appeared and were sent whizzing straight at Piedmon. Piedmon drew two swords and knocked all five stars from their original path, all in one smooth motion. He then ran straight for Musyamon, before the other Digimon could launch another attack, and slashed at him with both swords at almost super-human speed. 

Musyamon appeared to have no problem blocking at first, but as the intensity and speed of the blows increased, Musyamon grew harder and harder pressed to blow them all, and very soon began to be injured by them, until with one amazing double-sword uppercut, Piedmon knocked Musyamon backwards, causing his sword to skid across the floor out of reach. 

"Magical Force!" Eldritchmon struck suddenly, and Piedmon slammed into the far stone wall like a wrecking ball, out of the fight for the moment. 

Tai instantly turned to Agumon, who was sitting crouched on the floor, holding his stomach, looking not a little sick. "Agumon, are you up for another round?"

"I'm sorry Tai," Agumon winced as he looked up at his friend, 'But I seem to have no energy left. That last fight with Eldritchmon really took a lot out of me."

Tai gritted his teeth, but knew he couldn't force Agumon to fight, even now, when he was really needed. With three of the four Dark Masters down and two of the most powerful Dark Alliance still up, they would need all the firepower they could get. He instead turned to the others. "What about you guys? Are you up to it?"

MetalGarurumon stepped up quickly, and HerculesKabuterimon rose up, his thin wings beating several hundred times a second. Mimi stood up, with Palmon at her side. He unclipped her Digivice from her purse strap, looked at it for a minute, and slowly held it out over Palmon. 

"Don't worry Mimi, I'll be all right." Palmon said, as she stepped up into the energy spilling forth from Mimi's Digivice. 

"Palmon Warp-Digivolved to . . . . FloraLillymon!"

The beautiful, graceful wooden maiden strode off purposefully towards the waiting Eldritchmon and Musyamon, closely following her two Mega comrades. 

HerculesKabuterimon attacked first, diving down from the sky like a fighter plane. "Giga Scissor Claw!" His huge, crushing mandibles snapped in rapid succession, straight at Eldritchmon. He shrugged off the attack, like he was shrugging off rainwater from his over coat, and raised his staff to counter-attack. 

"Ice Wolf Claw!" 

Before he could attack, MetalGarurumon unleashed a volley of his ice rockets, covering him in a foot thick coating of ice. Energy burst forth from within the coating of ice, the ice simply vaporized, and Eldritchmon was free, no more worse for the wear.

"Forest Strike!" FloraLillymon raised her arms over her head, massive tree trunks appeared to levitate over her head, and one by one slammed like battering rams into Eldritchmon. These appeared to have some effect, because each tree trunk that slammed into him caused him to take a step back, and he gritted his teeth. 

"Not so tough are you now, Eldritchmon?" Matt yelled.

"Blade of Darkness!" Musyamon drew his sword blazing from its sheath, glowing with an impossibly dark light, and slashed it out on the oncoming Mega Digimon. The energy released from the blade slammed all three Digimon back several yards, scattering the Digidestined as they scrambled to get out of the way, lest they be crushed by their huge Digimon as they fell. 

"I believe you were saying something about the limits of my strengths, fool human." Eldritchmon said, as he approached the fallen Digimon. Before they could rise and attack, he raised his staff—

"Magical Force!" 

The incredible dark energies leapt from the staff, and threw the three Mega Digimon hard against the far wall, some twenty yards away. Eldritchmon laughed and raised his dark staff again to finish them off—

"Trump Sword!" Three expertly thrown swords knocked the staff from his hand and sent it spinning away, skidding across the floor. As Eldritchmon muttered a curse and went after it, Musyamon glared at Piedmon, who stood glaring back. Musyamon moved to draw his sword, but Piedmon was faster.

"Trump Sword!" Two swords flew, caught Musyamon by his cape, and slammed him against one of the large, thick stone pillars that dotted the vast room, pinning him to the rock by his cape. 

"I've had enough of the Dark Masters. You deserve a fate worse than being defeated, Piedmon." Eldritchmon said, as he almost glided up to him. Piedmon drew more swords, and was about to throw them, but Eldritchmon moved faster still. He jumped up to Piedmon, closing the gap in between them to perhaps three feet.

"Wall of Darkness!" 

The dark fog sprang up out of nowhere, directly in front of Piedmon, and before he could move out of the way, the darkness appeared to reach out with groping tentacles, ensnare him, and pull him into the thick impenetrable fog. Eldritchmon gestured, and the fog disappeared, taking Piedmon with it. 

"What did you do to Piedmon?" Izzy demanded, surprised at himself. Even though Piedmon was once their greatest enemy, he had sacrificed himself and the rest of the Dark Masters so that the Digidestined had time to plan out an attack and regroup. 

"I sent him to a spectral limbo, if it's any concern of yours. Don't worry, you won't be joining him. I have a special demise planned for the eight of you." Eldritchmon grinned evilly, and began to close the gap between the Digidestined and himself. 

"Metal Wolf Claw!" 

MetalGarurumon leapt straight for Eldritchmon, a burst of silver energy shooting out of his gaping jaws. The blast slammed into Eldritchmon, and he took a step back, more out of surprise than anything. 

"Mega Electro Shocker!" An incredible explosion of electrical energy exploded from HerculesKabuterimon and struck Eldritchmon head on, forcing him back. 

"Petal Storm!" FloraLillymon appeared to levitate into the air, and the small but extraordinarily powerful pink petals materialized out of thin air, and all at once slammed into Eldritchmon, lifting him up and slamming him into the wall behind him, throwing up a thick cloud of dust and debris from where he hit. 

"We beat him?" Joe asked, almost disbelieving himself. 

A deep, dark laugh emitted from the middle of the dust cloud as an answer to Joe's question.

"I don't think so." Mimi said nervously. 

All at once the dust cloud vanished, as if it had been sucked up by a powerful yet unseen dust buster. Eldritchmon stood, completely unfazed and unharmed. "That was enlightening." Eldritchmon said, as he strode purposefully towards the group of three Digimon. "It was enlightening in that you fools may be stronger and more resourceful than I and others have given you credit for." He leveled his staff at the group, "But, nevertheless, you are far too weak. Magical Force!" 

The explosion of energy slammed MetalGarurumon and FloraLillymon into the wall behind them, and sent HerculesKabuterimon falling to the ground like a sack of wet cement. Both HerculesKabuterimon and FloraLillymon, not having much experience in the Mega stage, reverted to their rookie form, but MetalGarurumon climbed painfully to his feet.

As Joe watched Izzy and Mimi run to help their fallen friends and Eldritchmon advance upon them once more, this time without much to bar his way, he felt a real sense of dread. Being older than everyone, he felt it was his responsibility to watch over the younger kids, and if anyone got hurt, it would be his fault because he hadn't protected them. He felt just like a parent watching over their children; they had to make sure they were okay. Joe looked down, as such thoughts streamed through his mind, and dimly focused on the familiar face of Gomamon looking up at him. 

Then, it seemed that some of the weight of responsibility of protected the other kids was lifted from his shoulders, and he became vaguely aware of his crest glowing like fire from within. The energy from his crest moved in spades to his Digivice, where it poured over like an overfilled dam, straight to Gomamon. 

"Gomamon Warp-Digivolved to . . . . Vulcanmon!" Vulcanmon stood, a different and more powerful and slimmed down version of Zudomon, and he had a large, high-tech looking metallic circle in his right hand. 

Eldritchmon stopped short when this forty foot tall Mega Digimon suddenly appeared before him. Eldritchmon glared up at Vulcanmon, but made no move to attack. Instead he snapped his fingers, and Musyamon, who by this time had managed to free himself from Piedmon's swords, leapt to his side. 

"Blade of Darkness!" His sword seemed to glow by itself with evil light as it sprang from the sheath, and Musyamon slashed it out, straight for the still Vulcanmon, who was glaring down at the two smaller Dark Alliance. He took the blow head on, and barely seemed to feel it. 

"Chakram of Power!" Vulcanmon spun the metal circle in his hand once, and it appeared to glow with a golden light. Then he threw it, and it flew, spinning and shining, and went straight through the middle of Musyamon before he could block. Musyamon dropped his sword, and it vanished first, and then he fell, vanishing into nothingness before he hit the ground. The circle of metal ricocheted off the stone wall behind Eldritchmon, and flew back to Vulcanmon, who caught it. 

"Gatomon Digivolved to . . . Angewoman!" The angel-Digimon flew high, and power and light seemed to radiate from her shimmering wings and rain down on the hurt and weak Digimon.

"Sora . . . . I feel strong again!" Biyomon said, as she hopped from where she had been lying half-unconscious a moment before. 

"Me too!" Agumon declared, as he rose swiftly to his feet. Angewoman landed near Kari, who threw her arms around her. "My powers have given you a temporary boost. If we all work together, it may be enough to defeat Eldritchmon once and for all. I need everyone to Digivolve to their highest stages."

"Agumon Warp-Digivolved to . . . . WarGreymon!"

"Biyomon Warp-Digivolved to . . . . Phoenixmon!"

"Tentomon Warp Digivolved to . . . . HerculesKabuterimon!"

"Patamon Digivolved to Angemon! Angemon Digivolved to . . . . MagnaAngemon!" 

As Angewoman flew into the air, followed closely by MagnaAngemon, she shouted over her shoulder, "Everyone, throw your hardest attacks at me!" She spread her arms in an arc over her head, "Heaven's Charm!" A brightly glowing golden ring of energy appeared overhead.

"That worked for Myotismon, it will not work for me!" Eldritchmon sneered. "Magical Force!" He directed the attack straight for Angewoman, but at the last second, Vulcanmon rose up in front of her, and totally deflected the attack off of his large shell.

"Everyone, give your power to Angewoman!" Phoenixmon commanded, as she banked and turned over their heads. 

"Mega Electro Shocker!"

"Forest Strike!"

"Chakram of Power!"

"Giga Missile!"

"Crimson Flame!"

"Nova Force!"

Six incredible energy attacks all rocketed straight for the shimmering golden ring that hovered above Angewoman. The attacks hit in dead center, causing a deafening explosion or sound and light that made even Eldritchmon pause. The energy congealed and coalesced into something resembling a star going supernova. This energy was then channeled straight into Angewoman, who stood ready. She quickly forged all of the energy into an oversized arrow, in which she could barely contain with all the energy it held. 

"You ready MagnaAngemon?" she asked, and the strain in her voice was evident of the physical strain she was enduring to contain so much energy for so long.

"Gate of Destiny!" MagnaAngemon's energy sword Xcaliber cut cleanly through the air a large circle, and from this circle, a large spinning closed disc appeared. The disc spun once more, and then split open down the center, revealing a dimensional limbo.

"Magical Force!" Eldritchmon launched the attack again straight for Angewoman, but before it could reach her—

"Celestial Arrow!" 

She fitted the arrow forged completely of the energy of six Mega Digimon's attacks to her bow, which elongated from her glow, and let it fly. The energy arrow clove straight through Eldritchmon's attack and struck him head on before he could move. The explosion of all that pent up energy sent him airborne, straight into the waiting Gate of Destiny. 

His staff was sucked in and vanished, but Eldritchmon, incredibly held onto the sides of the Gate, and was slowly pulling himself out, laughing all the while. "Good plan, Digidestined, but I will not be foiled by a bunch of computer coded fools!" 

"Terra Force!" 

WarGreymon launched himself straight at Eldritchmon, who had succeeded in pulling himself half out of the Gate, despite the fact that the Gate was acting like a huge vacuum, trying to pull him in.

"WarGreymon will be sucked in!" Izzy yelled, as his fingers struck his computer keyboard like rain in a thunderstorm. "Once the Gate is opened, it will absorb any and all Digimon into the dimensional limbo that it is a portal to, until it is closed!"

"And MagnaAngemon can't close it!" Tai yelled, "Not with Eldritchmon blocking the way!" 

WarGreymon slammed into Eldritchmon, knocking him free of his hold. Eldritchmon fell freely into the Gate, but at such close range, WarGreymon began to get drawn into the Gate as well. He dug his foot long claws into the metal ring and held on as well as he could, but MagnaAngemon still could not close the portal! 

A sharp evil laugh tore through the air, and WarGreymon yelled, "Eldritchmon's hanging on to me! He'll suck us both in!"

"Don't worry WarGreymon, I've got you." FloraLillymon reached out, her arms growing impossibly long, as if they were plant vines, and grabbed WarGreymon, just as his claws ripped through the metal of the Gate and he was about to be sucked in. WarGreymon tried to kick Eldritchmon free, but he wouldn't let go. 

As FloraLillymon slowly drew WarGreymon out of the Gate, Tai yelled, "We're the Digidestined, Eldritchmon! And we don't lose!" 

"Chakram of Power!" Vulcanmon threw his Chakram, spinning, and it slammed Eldritchmon in the chest, knocking him free of WarGreymon. Eldritchmon fell, screaming, into the Gate, and it closed with a snap, and disappeared into nothingness.

The noise that erupted inside of the cavern resembled something like a bomb going off. Tai and Sora were hugging each other as tight as they could, and the other Digidestined were clamoring about for joy. The six Mega Digimon, along with Angewoman and MagnaAngemon, devolved back to their rookie forms and gladly accepted their friend's thanks. 

A thick beam of light, which appeared very out of place in such an evil and dark abode, suddenly appeared to explode out of the ground, and the image of Gennai appeared before them. 

"Hello kids! I see you have finally defeated the Dark Alliance! I must admit, for a while there, I was afraid that Eldritchmon really could not be defeated. But you proved me wrong, and I'm glad. I'm sorry to say, Eldritchmon is not gone for good."

"What?" Tai asked, pulling free from Sora in astonishment. 

"He is much darker, much more evil than can be defeated merely by Digimon. The Gate of Destiny only prevents him from growing in power, and contains him. He will stay in that dimensional limbo, until he is set free."

"Who would set him free?" Joe asked.

"Anyone who wants to wreck havoc on the Digital World. There is but one way to defeat evil that great, and I would dare not even speak it."

"So what, can we stay here a while this time?" Matt asked.

"I'm afraid not. If you remember, the last time you were on the Digiworld, your world and the Digiworld became in sync, so time passes the same on both worlds." Everyone felt their happy mood evaporate upon hearing these words.

"So how did the Dark Masters grow up from Digieggs in only six months?" Mimi asked.

"The Dark Masters were not reborn in the primary village as most Digimon are. It's a rather complicated process involving fried eggs that I don't want to get into. So are you ready now for the trip home?"

"Give us a few minutes to say good bye." Matt said. The Digidestined then said good bye to their Digimon for the second time, still not knowing if they would ever see them again. 

"Don't worry kids." Gennai smiled. "You will most certainly be seeing your Digimon again before long. I am sure about that. What I'm not sure about is how to get my wristwatch fixed." He held up his watch, which looked as if the battery had run dead. Izzy was about to tell Gennai how to fix it, but stopped. He looked down at Tentomon, and smiled, remorsefully. 

Finally, once the proper good byes had been said, the Digidestined slowly and reluctantly parted from their Digimon. 

"Don't worry," Tai said, almost to himself, "Gennai promised we'd be back." He took Sora's hand and felt reassured by her warm touch. She smiled at him, and he felt at least there was something to look forward to. 

"We're ready." Kari said, speaking for them all. 

"I will be seeing you in the future then, Digidestined." Gennai said. "I will contact Izzy, and he will alert the rest of you. Until next time, Digidestined."

The beam of light he was in shimmered and faded, along with the eight Digimon, who were waving good bye. The Digidestined stood in silence for a few moments, until they noticed their surroundings being yanked away from them, like a tablecloth being yanked out from underneath the dishes on a table. They appeared to be traveling upwards, as if in an unseen elevator, and, in the blink of an eye, reappeared in Tai's living room, from where they had left. 

They separated, tucking their Digivices away almost unconsciously. Their parents were not too pleased with them, but after they explained they had spent the night at someone's house, they only were expected to do the dishes for a week instead of a year. 

Such is the life of a Digidestined . . . . .


End file.
